School teacher workforce

Published 18 February 2021

Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• in 2019, 85.7% of all teachers in state-funded schools in England were White British (where ethnicity was known)

• 78.5% of the working age population was White British at the time of the 2011 Census

• 3.8% of teachers were from the White Other ethnic group, the second highest percentage after the White British group

• 92.7% of headteachers were White British

• 75.8% of teachers were women, and there were more female than male teachers in every ethnic group

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

The data shows:

• the number of school teachers, including headteachers, in state-funded schools in England
• the percentage of school teachers from different ethnic groups

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.

Total numbers of teachers in each ethnic group are rounded to the nearest 100. All percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place.

Not included in the data

The data does not include

• teaching assistants
• teachers on contracts of less than 1 month

It also does not include teachers in:

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

Estimates based on fewer than 50 teachers have not been included. This is to ensure that only reliable findings are shown.

The ethnic groups used in the data

The data uses [ethnic groups from the 2001 Census]. Working age population estimates come from the 2011 Census.

The 2001 Census categories do not include the Arab, and White Gypsy and Irish Traveller ethnic groups. Data for these groups is included in ‘Any Other ethnic group’.

Ethnicity was known for around 92% of teachers. Percentages are based on teachers whose ethnicity was known.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document for this data.

In the data file

See [Download the data] for figures dating back to 2016.

3. By ethnicity

• Location: England
• Time period: 2019
• Source: School workforce in England: November 2019

Percentage and number of school teachers, and percentage of the working age population (2011), by ethnicity

Ethnicity	% of teacher workforce	Teachers	% of working age population
Asian
Bangladeshi	0.6	3,000	0.8
Indian	1.9	8,900	3.0
Pakistani	1.2	5,700	2.0
Asian other	0.7	3,200	1.7
Black
Black African	0.9	4,200	1.9
Black Caribbean	1.1	4,900	1.2
Black other	0.3	1,500	0.5
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian	0.4	1,700	0.5
Mixed White/Black African	0.1	600	0.2
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	0.4	1,700	0.6
Mixed other	0.5	2,400	0.5
White
White British	85.7	395,900	78.5
White Irish	1.5	6,900	1.0
White other	3.8	17,700	5.6
Other including Chinese
Chinese	0.2	800	0.9
Any other	0.6	2,800	1.1
Unknown	N/A*	38,800	N/A*

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce By ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• in 2019, 85.7% of all teachers in state-funded schools in England were White British (where ethnicity was known)

• 78.5% of the working age population was White British at the time of the 2011 Census

• 3.8% of teachers were from the White Other ethnic group, and 1.9% were from the Indian ethnic group – by comparison, 5.6% of the working age population was from the White Other group, and 3.0% was from the Indian ethnic group

• White Irish people made up 1.5% of teachers, and 1.0% of the working age population

4. By ethnicity and gender

• Location: England
• Time period: 2019
• Source: School workforce in England: November 2019

Percentage and number of school teachers by ethnicity and gender

	Men		Women
Ethnicity	Men %	Men Teachers	Women %	Women Teachers
Asian
Bangladeshi	0.7	800	0.6	2,200
Indian	1.5	1,700	2.1	7,200
Pakistani	1.1	1,300	1.3	4,400
Asian other	0.7	800	0.7	2,400
Black
Black African	1.4	1,500	0.8	2,600
Black Caribbean	1.0	1,100	1.1	3,800
Black other	0.4	400	0.3	1,100
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian	0.4	400	0.3	1,200
Mixed White/Black African	0.2	200	0.1	500
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	0.4	400	0.4	1,300
Mixed other	0.5	600	0.5	1,900
White
White British	85.8	95,600	85.7	300,300
White Irish	1.8	2,000	1.4	4,900
White other	3.3	3,700	4.0	14,000
Other including Chinese
Chinese	0.2	200	0.2	600
Any other	0.6	700	0.6	2,100
Unknown	N/A*	10,000	N/A*	28,800

^* Not applicable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce By ethnicity and gender Summary

The data shows that:

• in 2019, 75.8% of school teachers were women

• in every ethnic group, there were more female than male teachers

• White British people made up 85.8% of male teachers and 85.7% of female teachers

• among female teachers, 4.0% were from the White Other ethnic group and 2.1% were from the Indian ethnic group – the next highest percentages for women

• among male teachers, 3.3% were from the White Other ethnic group and 1.8% were White Irish – the next highest percentages for men

5. By ethnicity and role

• Location: England
• Time period: 2019
• Source: School workforce in England: November 2019

Percentage and number of school teachers by ethnicity and role

	Classroom		Deputies and assistants		Heads
Ethnicity	Classroom %	Classroom Teachers	Deputies and assistants %	Deputies and assistants Teachers	Heads %	Heads Teachers
Asian
Bangladeshi	0.7	2,800	0.3	100	0.1
Indian	2.0	8,000	1.5	700	0.8	200
Pakistani	1.3	5,300	0.7	300	0.4	100
Asian other	0.7	2,900	0.4	200	0.2	100
Black
Black African	1.0	3,900	0.4	200	0.2
Black Caribbean	1.1	4,300	1.0	500	0.7	200
Black other	0.4	1,400	0.2	100	0.1
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian	0.4	1,500	0.3	100	0.3	100
Mixed White/Black African	0.1	600	0.1		0.1
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	0.4	1,600	0.3	100	0.2
Mixed other	0.6	2,200	0.4	200	0.3	100
White
White British	84.9	334,600	89.7	41,800	92.7	19,500
White Irish	1.5	5,700	1.7	800	1.8	400
White other	4.1	16,200	2.4	1,100	1.8	400
Other including Chinese
Chinese	0.2	800	0.1
Any other	0.6	2,600	0.4	200	0.2
Unknown	N/A*	34,500	N/A*	3,000	N/A*	1,300

^* Not applicable Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce By ethnicity and role Summary

The data shows that, out of teachers whose ethnicity was known:

• White British people made up 92.7% of headteachers, 89.7% of deputy or assistant headteachers and 84.9% of classroom teachers

• 0.1% of classroom teachers were Mixed White and Black African – the lowest percentage out of all ethnic groups in this role

• 0.1% of deputy and assistant headteachers were from the Mixed White and Black African, and Chinese ethnic groups – the lowest percentage out of all ethnic groups in this role

• aside from White British, the White Irish ethnic group was the only group with a higher percentage of headteachers (1.8%) than deputy or assistant head teachers (1.7%) or classroom teachers (1.5%)

6. By ethnicity and type of school

• Location: England
• Time period: 2019
• Source: School workforce in England: November 2019

Percentage and number of school teachers by ethnicity and type of school

	Nursery and Primary		Secondary		Special		Centrally employed
Ethnicity	Nursery and Primary %	Nursery and Primary Teachers	Secondary %	Secondary Teachers	Special %	Special Teachers	Centrally employed %	Centrally employed Teachers
Asian
Bangladeshi	0.6	1,300	0.8	1,600	0.2	100	0.3
Indian	1.7	3,900	2.3	4,700	1.0	200	0.9
Pakistani	1.1	2,500	1.5	3,000	0.5	100	0.4
Asian other	0.5	1,100	0.9	1,900	0.5	100	0.4
Black
Black African	0.5	1,100	1.4	2,800	1.0	200	0.2
Black Caribbean	0.9	2,000	1.2	2,500	1.4	300	0.8
Black other	0.2	600	0.4	900	0.4	100	0.3
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian	0.3	800	0.4	800	0.3	100	0.4
Mixed White/Black African	0.1	300	0.2	300	0.2		0.1
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	0.4	800	0.4	800	0.4	100	0.3
Mixed other	0.5	1,100	0.6	1,200	0.5	100	0.5
White
White British	88.6	205,900	82.2	165,800	86.1	20,900	89.8	3,300
White Irish	1.3	2,900	1.8	3,600	1.4	300	1.0
White other	2.9	6,700	4.8	9,600	5.6	1,400	4.0	100
Other including Chinese
Chinese	0.1	300	0.3	500	0.1		0.1
Any other	0.4	1,000	0.8	1,700	0.6	100	0.5
Unknown	N/A*	16,800	N/A*	19,000	N/A*	2,100	N/A*	1,000

^* Not applicable Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of School teacher workforce By ethnicity and type of school Summary

The data shows that, out of teachers whose ethnicity was known:

• White British people made up 88.6% of nursery and primary school teachers, 82.2% of secondary school teachers, 86.1% of special school teachers, and 89.8% of those who were centrally employed

• teachers from the White Other group were the next largest group in all types of school, making up 2.9% of nursery and primary school teachers, 4.8% of secondary school teachers, 5.6% of special school teachers, and 4.0% of centrally employed teachers

• in special schools, the lowest percentages of teachers were from the Chinese, Bangladeshi, and Mixed White and Black African ethnic groups

• in every other type of school, the lowest percentages of teachers were from the Chinese, and Mixed White and Black African ethnic groups

7. By ethnicity and gender (headteachers only)

• Location: England
• Time period: 2019
• Source: School workforce in England: November 2019

Percentage and number of headteachers by ethnicity and gender

	Men		Women
Ethnicity	Men %	Men Headteachers	Women %	Women Headteachers
Asian
Bangladeshi	0.1		0.1
Indian	0.6		1.0	100
Pakistani	0.3		0.4	100
Asian other	0.2		0.3
Black
Black African	0.2		0.2
Black Caribbean	0.6		0.8	100
Black other	0.1		0.1
Mixed
Mixed White/Asian	0.3		0.2
Mixed White/Black African			0.1
Mixed White/Black Caribbean	0.1		0.3
Mixed other	0.2		0.3
White
White British	92.9	6,400	92.6	13,200
White Irish	2.1	100	1.7	200
White other	2.0	100	1.8	200
Other including Chinese
Chinese	0.1
Any other	0.2		0.2
Unknown	N/A*	500	N/A*	900

^* Not applicable Data withheld to protect confidentiality

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

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

The data shows that:

• there were around 22,400 headteachers in 2019, and over two-thirds of those (around 15,100) were women

• 96.1% of female headteachers were White (92.6% White British, 1.7% White Irish, and 1.8% White Other)

• 97.0% of male headteachers were White (92.9% White British, 2.1% White Irish, and 2.0% White Other)

8. Data sources

Source

School workforce in England: November 2019

Type of data

Administrative data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Education

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

School workforce data is used to monitor the effectiveness and diversity of staff in schools, and informs policies on pay.

It is also used by other government departments, local authorities, external agencies and educational researchers.

9. Download the data

School teacher workforce - Spreadsheet (csv) 1 MB

This file contains the following: measure, year, time_type, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, geography, broad ethnicity, gender, gender_type, teacher, teacher_type, school, school_type, value, value_type, value_note and teachers

Publication release date: 18 February 2021

full page history

1. 18 February 2021 Updated with the latest available data.

From: Department for Education

Previous editions:

1. 7 September 2020
2. 14 May 2019
3. 30 May 2018

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