School teacher workforce

Published 19 September 2025

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• in the 2024 to 2025 school year, 83.2% of all teachers in state-funded schools in England were White British (out of those whose ethnicity was known) – by comparison, 71.8% of working age people in England were White British at the time of the 2021 Census

• 88.6% of all teachers in state-funded schools were White, and 5.8% were Asian – by comparison, 80.7% of the working age population in England were White and 10.1% were Asian

• Inner London had the smallest percentage of White British teachers (50.1%) out of all regions

• 14.6% of teachers in the Inner London region were Asian, and 13.1% were Black

• 91.8% of headteachers were White British

• 75.6% of teachers were female, and there were more female than male teachers in every ethnic group

Further research

Research into school teacher diversity in England found that 46.1% of state schools in England did not have a classroom teacher from an ethnic minority background. The lack of ethnic representation was greater in primary schools. This was despite ethnic representation in schools having improved over time.

Similarly, a 2022 study by the National Foundation for Education and Research (NFER) found that people from ethnic minorities were underrepresented at all career stages of the teaching profession, with significant disparities in the progression rates.

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data shows the number of school teachers in state-funded schools in England, by ethnicity.

It also shows the number and percentage of school teachers by region, sex and role, including:

• headteachers
• deputy headteachers
• assistant headteachers
• classroom teachers

The data includes both full and part-time teachers employed by their school or local authority. It covers all state-funded schools, including academies and free schools.

Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.

Not included in the data

The data does not include:

• teaching assistants
• teachers on contracts of less than one month

It also does not include teachers in:

• independent schools
• sixth form colleges
• further education schools and colleges

The ethnic groups used in the data

Data for the 2024 to 2025 school year uses ethnic groups from the 2011 Census.

Data for 2010 to 2023 uses:

• ethnic groups from the 2001 Census for the disaggregated groups
• ethnic groups from the 2011 Census for the aggregated groups

Working age population estimates are from the 2021 Census.

Ethnicity was known for 88.2% of teachers. Percentages are based on teachers whose ethnicity was known.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document for this data.

In the data file

Download the data for data from 2010 onwards which includes:

• grade
• region
• school type (referred to in DfE publications as ‘school phase’)
• sex

3. By ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2024 to 2025 academic year
• Source: School workforce in England: June 2025

Percentages and headcount of school teachers, and percentages of the working age population (2021), by ethnicity

Ethnicity	% of teacher workforce	Headcount	% of working age population (2021)
All	100.0	513,434	100.0
Asian	5.8	26,120	10.1
Bangladeshi	0.9	1,110	1.1
Chinese	0.3	3,910	0.9
Indian	2.1	9,502	3.4
Pakistani	1.6	7,151	2.7
Asian other	1.0	4,448	1.9
Black	2.9	12,992	4.4
Black African	1.2	5,442	2.8
Black Caribbean	1.2	5,504	1.2
Black other	0.5	2,046	0.4
Mixed	1.9	8,448	2.5
Mixed White and Asian	0.5	2,049	0.6
Mixed White and Black African	0.2	801	0.3
Mixed White and Black Caribbean	0.5	2,205	0.8
Mixed other	0.8	3,394	0.7
White	88.6	400,935	80.7
White British	83.2	376,500	71.8
White Irish	1.3	5,962	0.8
White Gypsy or Irish Traveller	0.0	30	0.1
White other	4.1	18,443	7.7
Other	0.9	4,216	2.3
Arab	0.0	29	0.6
Any other	0.9	4,187	1.8
Unknown	N/A*	60,723	N/A*

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce By ethnicity Summary

The data shows that in the 2024 to 2025 academic year, where ethnicity was known:

• 83.2% of all teachers in state-funded schools in England were White British – by comparison, 71.8% of working age people in England were White British at the time of the 2021 Census

• people from the White Other ethnic group made up 4.1% of teachers, and 7.7% of the working age population

• people from the Indian ethnic group made up 2.1% of teachers, and 3.4% of the working age population

• people from the aggregated Asian ethnic group made up 5.8% of teachers, and 10.1% of the working age population

• people from the aggregated Other ethnic group made up 0.9% of teachers, and 2.3% of the working age population

4. By ethnicity and sex

• Location: England
• Time period: 2024 to 2025 academic year
• Source: School workforce in England: June 2025

Percentages and headcount of school teachers, by ethnicity and sex

	Total		Male		Female		Unknown
Ethnicity	Total %	Total Headcount	Male %	Male Headcount	Female %	Female Headcount	Unknown %	Unknown Headcount
All	100.0	513,434	100.0	125,194	100.0	388,123	100.0	117
Asian	5.8	26,120	5.2	5,686	6.0	20,426	14.6	8
Bangladeshi	0.9	3,910	0.9	944	0.9	2,966	1.8	1
Chinese	0.3	1,110	0.3	298	0.2	812	0.0	0
Indian	2.1	9,502	1.7	1,817	2.2	7,683	3.6	2
Pakistani	1.6	7,151	1.4	1,559	1.6	5,590	1.8	1
Asian other	1.0	4,448	1.0	1,069	1.0	3,375	7.3	4
Black	2.9	12,992	3.6	3,891	2.7	9,086	27.3	15
Black African	1.2	5,442	1.8	1,987	1.0	3,451	7.3	4
Black Caribbean	1.2	5,504	1.2	1,282	1.2	4,211	20.0	11
Black other	0.5	2,046	0.6	622	0.4	1,424	0.0	0
Mixed	1.9	8,448	1.9	2,122	1.8	6,322	7.3	4
Mixed White and Asian	0.5	2,049	0.5	566	0.4	1,483	0.0	0
Mixed White and Black African	0.2	801	0.2	221	0.2	580	0.0	0
Mixed White and Black Caribbean	0.5	2,205	0.5	528	0.5	1,676	1.8	1
Mixed other	0.8	3,394	0.7	807	0.8	2,583	5.5	3
White	88.6	400,935	88.4	96,878	88.6	304,029	49.1	27
White British	83.2	376,500	83.3	91,286	83.1	285,188	47.3	26
White Irish	1.3	5,962	1.6	1,791	1.2	4,170	0.0	0
White Gypsy or Irish Traveller	0.0	30	0.0	5	0.0	25	0.0	0
White other	4.1	18,443	3.5	3,796	4.3	14,646	1.8	1
Other	0.9	4,216	0.9	970	1.0	3,245	1.8	1
Arab	0.0	29	0.0	5	0.0	24	0.0	0
Any other	0.9	4,187	0.9	965	0.9	3,221	1.8	1
Unknown	N/A*	60,723	N/A*	15,646	N/A*	45,015	N/A*	62

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce By ethnicity and sex Summary

The data shows that:

• 75.6% of all school teachers in England were female
• White people made up 88.4% of male teachers and 88.6% of female teachers
• Asian people made up 5.2% of male teachers and 6.0% of female teachers
• Black people made up 3.6% of male teachers and 2.7% of female teachers
• people in the Mixed ethnic group made up 1.9% of male teachers and 1.8% of female teachers
• White British women made up the biggest percentage of female teachers (83.1%), followed by those from the White Other (4.3%) and Indian (2.2%) ethnic groups
• White British men made up the biggest percentage of male teachers (83.3%), followed by those from the White Other (3.5%) and Black African (1.8%) ethnic groups

5. By ethnicity and role

• Location: England
• Time period: 2024 to 2025 academic year
• Source: School workforce in England: June 2025

Percentages and headcount of school teachers, by ethnicity and role

	Total		Classroom teacher		Assistant head teacher		Deputy head teacher		Head teacher
Ethnicity	Total %	Total Headcount	Classroom teacher %	Classroom teacher Headcount	Assistant head teacher %	Assistant head teacher Headcount	Deputy head teacher %	Deputy head teacher Headcount	Head teacher %	Head teacher Headcount
All	100.0	513,434	100.0	437,476	100.0	34,434	100.0	19,069	100.0	22,455
Asian	5.8	26,120	6.2	23,995	4.1	1,260	2.7	460	2.0	405
Bangladeshi	0.9	3,910	1.0	3,698	0.4	135	0.2	42	0.2	35
Chinese	0.3	1,110	0.3	1,072	0.1	21	0.1	10	0.0	7
Indian	2.1	9,502	2.2	8,506	1.9	570	1.3	222	1.0	204
Pakistani	1.6	7,151	1.7	6,619	1.1	327	0.6	106	0.5	98
Asian other	1.0	4,448	1.1	4,101	0.7	207	0.5	80	0.3	60
Black	2.9	12,992	3.1	11,745	2.4	723	1.6	276	1.2	248
Black African	1.2	5,442	1.3	5,065	0.8	237	0.5	82	0.3	57
Black Caribbean	1.2	5,504	1.3	4,812	1.3	392	0.9	149	0.7	150
Black other	0.5	2,046	0.5	1,867	0.3	94	0.3	44	0.2	40
Mixed	1.9	8,448	1.9	7,450	1.7	521	1.4	246	1.1	232
Mixed White and Asian	0.5	2,049	0.5	1,801	0.4	132	0.4	60	0.3	55
Mixed White and Black African	0.2	801	0.2	703	0.2	53	0.1	23	0.1	21
Mixed White and Black Caribbean	0.5	2,205	0.5	1,909	0.5	154	0.4	63	0.4	78
Mixed other	0.8	3,394	0.8	3,036	0.6	181	0.6	99	0.4	77
White	88.6	400,935	87.8	337,294	91.2	28,059	93.6	16,227	95.3	19,355
White British	83.2	376,500	82.1	315,623	86.8	26,697	89.7	15,540	91.8	18,639
White Irish	1.3	5,962	1.3	4,835	1.6	489	1.7	299	1.7	338
White Gypsy or Irish Traveller	0.0	30	0.0	24	0.0	3	0.0	3	0.0	0
White other	4.1	18,443	4.4	16,811	2.8	870	2.2	385	1.9	377
Other	0.9	4,216	1.0	3,814	0.7	208	0.7	122	0.4	71
Arab	0.0	29	0.0	27	0.0	2	0.0	0	0.0	0
Any other	0.9	4,187	1.0	3,787	0.7	206	0.7	122	0.4	71
Unknown	N/A*	60,723	N/A*	53,177	N/A*	3,662	N/A*	1,739	N/A*	2,145

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce By ethnicity and role Summary

The data shows that:

• White British people made up 91.8% of headteachers, 89.7% of deputy headteachers, 86.8% of assistant headteachers, and 82.1% of classroom teachers

• the Arab, and White Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic groups had the lowest number of school teachers, both overall and in every role

• the White British and White Irish ethnic groups were the only groups with a higher percentage of headteachers than deputy or assistant headteachers, or classroom teachers

6. By ethnicity and region

• Location: England
• Time period: 2024 to 2025 academic year
• Source: School workforce in England: June 2025

Percentages and headcount of school teachers, by ethnicity and region

	All		East Midlands		East of England		London (Inner)		London (Outer)		North East		North West		South East		South West		West Midlands		Yorkshire and The Humber
Ethnicity	All %	All Headcount	East Midlands %	East Midlands Headcount	East of England %	East of England Headcount	London (Inner) %	London (Inner) Headcount	London (Outer) %	London (Outer) Headcount	North East %	North East Headcount	North West %	North West Headcount	South East %	South East Headcount	South West %	South West Headcount	West Midlands %	West Midlands Headcount	Yorkshire and The Humber %	Yorkshire and The Humber Headcount
All	100.00	513,434	100.00	43,654	100.00	59,681	100.00	27,703	100.00	51,951	100.00	24,113	100.00	68,260	100.00	83,285	100.00	48,208	100.00	57,172	100.00	49,408
Asian	5.80	26,120	4.70	1,762	3.90	2,050	14.60	3,618	14.80	6,798	1.00	215	3.50	2,159	3.60	2,676	0.80	356	9.17	4,349	5.00	2,138
Bangladeshi	0.90	1,110	0.30	93	0.70	344	6.30	1,570	2.20	996	0.10	23	0.30	191	0.30	202	0.10	33	0.80	391	0.30	110
Chinese	0.30	3,910	0.10	93	0.20	124	0.80	186	0.50	244	0.10	24	0.20	104	0.20	158	0.10	44	0.20	88	0.10	54
Indian	2.10	9,502	3.00	1,140	1.20	639	3.10	770	6.20	2,869	0.30	59	1.00	624	1.50	1,135	0.40	146	3.66	1,738	0.90	382
Pakistani	1.60	7,151	0.70	250	1.00	547	2.10	520	2.70	1,232	0.40	78	1.50	925	0.80	620	0.10	50	3.34	1,584	3.10	1,345
Asian other	1.00	4,448	0.60	240	0.80	396	2.30	572	3.20	1,456	0.10	30	0.50	314	0.80	562	0.20	83	1.15	548	0.60	246
Black	2.90	12,992	1.20	460	2.30	1,237	13.10	3,242	9.90	4,581	0.20	43	0.60	367	2.00	1,521	0.50	199	2.30	1,092	0.60	250
Black African	1.20	5,442	0.60	214	1.10	598	5.30	1,319	4.30	1,961	0.10	31	0.30	176	0.90	655	0.20	88	0.61	291	0.30	108
Black Caribbean	1.20	5,504	0.40	148	0.90	461	5.80	1,439	4.20	1,921	0.00	8	0.20	97	0.80	630	0.20	69	1.35	643	0.20	88
Black other	0.50	2,046	0.30	98	0.30	178	2.00	483	1.50	699	0.00	4	0.20	94	0.30	235	0.10	42	0.33	158	0.10	53
Mixed	1.90	8,448	1.40	512	1.80	947	5.20	1,289	4.10	1,880	0.60	134	1.10	660	1.50	1,146	1.10	459	1.84	874	1.30	547
Mixed White and Asian	0.50	2,049	0.40	139	0.50	266	0.90	231	0.80	389	0.20	43	0.30	178	0.40	297	0.40	146	0.44	208	0.40	151
Mixed White and Black African	0.20	801	0.10	39	0.20	79	0.50	135	0.40	187	0.10	20	0.10	68	0.20	116	0.10	38	0.12	57	0.10	61
Mixed White and Black Caribbean	0.50	2,205	0.40	153	0.40	226	1.40	343	1.00	447	0.10	21	0.30	157	0.30	233	0.30	111	0.73	344	0.40	169
Mixed other	0.80	3,394	0.50	182	0.70	376	2.30	580	1.90	857	0.20	49	0.40	257	0.70	500	0.40	163	0.56	264	0.40	165
White	88.60	400,935	92.30	34,554	91.40	48,559	64.80	16,083	68.90	31,728	98.00	21,426	94.60	58,934	92.30	68,932	97.40	41,110	84.12	39,905	92.80	39,705
White British	83.20	376,500	89.30	33,437	85.50	45,405	50.10	12,427	56.20	25,897	96.30	21,050	91.70	57,156	86.20	64,335	94.00	39,668	80.88	38,369	90.60	38,757
White Irish	1.30	5,962	0.70	242	1.30	698	2.90	730	2.80	1,300	0.70	159	1.50	954	1.20	898	0.70	303	0.85	405	0.60	273
White Gypsy or Irish Traveller	0.00	30	0.00	1	0.00	3	0.00	3	0.00	5	0.00	0	0.00	3	0.00	6	0.00	1	0.01	5	0.00	3
White other	4.10	18,443	2.30	874	4.60	2,453	11.80	2,923	9.80	4,526	1.00	217	1.30	822	5.00	3,693	2.70	1,138	2.37	1,126	1.60	671
Other	0.90	4,216	0.40	154	0.60	324	2.40	596	2.40	1,082	0.20	39	0.30	198	0.50	379	0.20	82	2.57	1,219	0.30	143
Arab	0.00	29	0.00	0	0.00	3	0.00	6	0.00	10	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00	5	0.00	2	0.00	1	0.00	2
Any other	0.90	4,187	0.40	154	0.60	321	2.40	590	2.30	1,072	0.00	39	0.30	198	0.50	374	0.20	80	2.57	1,218	0.30	141
Unknown	N/A*	60,723	N/A*	6,212	N/A*	6,564	N/A*	2,875	N/A*	5,882	N/A*	2,257	N/A*	5,942	N/A*	8,631	N/A*	6,002	N/A*	9,732	N/A*	6,625

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce By ethnicity and region Summary

The data shows that:

• out of all regions in England, those with the highest percentage of Asian teachers were Outer London (14.8%), Inner London (14.6%), and West Midlands (9.2%)

• Black people made up 13.1% of school teachers in Inner London and 9.9% in Outer London

• people from the Bangladeshi ethnic group made up 6.3% of school teachers in Inner London

• people from the Indian ethnic group made up 6.2% of school teachers in Outer London

• White British people made up 96.3% of school teachers in the North East and 94.0% in South West

7. By ethnicity and sex (headteachers only)

• Location: England
• Time period: 2024 to 2025 academic year
• Source: School workforce in England: June 2025

Percentages and headcount of headteachers, by ethnicity and sex

	Total		Male		Female		Unknown
Ethnicity	Total %	Total Headcount	Male %	Male Headcount	Female %	Female Headcount	Unknown %	Unknown Headcount
All	100.0	22,455	100.0	7,212	100.0	15,235	100.0	8
Asian	2.0	405	1.7	111	2.1	292	50.0	1
Bangladeshi	0.2	35	0.2	15	0.1	20	0.0	0
Chinese	0.0	7	0.0	2	0.0	5	0.0	0
Indian	1.0	204	0.7	43	1.2	160	50.0	1
Pakistani	0.5	98	0.4	28	0.5	70	0.0	0
Asian other	0.3	60	0.4	23	0.3	37	0.0	0
Black	1.2	248	1.0	65	1.3	182	0.0	0
Black African	0.3	57	0.2	15	0.3	42	0.0	0
Black Caribbean	0.7	150	0.6	37	0.8	113	0.0	0
Black other	0.2	40	0.2	13	0.2	27	0.0	0
Mixed	1.1	232	1.0	66	1.2	165	0.0	0
Mixed White and Asian	0.3	55	0.4	24	0.2	31	0.0	0
Mixed White and Black African	0.1	21	0.1	8	0.1	13	0.0	0
Mixed White and Black Caribbean	0.4	63	0.2	15	0.5	63	0.0	0
Mixed other	0.4	77	0.3	19	0.4	58	0.0	0
White	95.3	19,355	96.0	6,219	95.0	13,135	50.0	1
White British	91.8	18,639	92.4	5,985	91.5	12,653	50.0	1
White Irish	1.7	338	1.7	112	1.6	226	0.0	0
White Gypsy or Irish Traveller	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0
White other	1.9	377	1.9	122	1.9	255	0.0	0
Other	0.4	71	0.2	15	0.4	56	0.0	0
Arab	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0
Any other	0.4	71	0.2	15	0.4	56	0.0	0
Unknown	N/A*	2,145	N/A*	735	N/A*	1,404	N/A*	6

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce By ethnicity and sex (headteachers only) Summary

The data shows that:

• there were 22,455 headteachers, and 15,235 (67.8%) were female
• 3.9% of female teachers and 5.8% of male teachers were in headteacher roles
• there were more female headteachers than male headteachers in every ethnic group
• 95.0% of female headteachers were White – of these, 91.5% were White British, 1.9% were from the White Other ethnic group, and 1.6% were White Irish
• 96.0% of male headteachers were White – of these, 92.4% were White British, 1.9% were from the White Other ethnic group, and 1.7% were White Irish

8. Data sources

Source

School workforce in England: June 2025

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

Accredited official statistics

Publisher

Department for Education

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

The census, which runs each November, collects information from schools and local authorities on the school workforce in state-funded schools in England.

9. Download the data

School-teacher workforce - Spreadsheet (csv) 1 MB

This file contains the following: measure, time, time_type, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, geography, geography_code, geography_type, sex, grade, school_type, value, value_type, numerator, denominator, numerator_note and denominator_note.

Publication release date: 19 September 2025

full page history

1. 19 September 2025 Updated with the latest available data.

From: Department for Education

Previous editions:

1. 6 July 2023
2. 7 September 2020
3. 14 May 2019
4. 30 May 2018

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