With a teaching workforce of well over half a million, the UK boasts more teachers than employees in almost any other profession.
Despite the teacher recruitment crisis, the number of teachers in UK schools continues to grow and recruitment company Indeed claims teaching is the UK’s most popular career.
But what is the size of the teaching workforce across the home nations? Below we look at the number of teachers working in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The number of teachers in the UK
There are currently 569,986 teachers in the UK. This number is made up of staff working across the UK’s 29,158 schools, including preschool settings, primary and secondary schools and other establishments such as special schools, in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The exact breakdown of UK teachers is as follows:
How many teachers are there in England?
In England data from the Department for Education, published in June 2024, shows there are 468,700 full-time equivalent teachers and 513,579 when you include those on part-time contracts. Of this full total, 75 per cent (388,688) are female.
Broken down by phase, and including those on part-time contracts, the split is as follows:
- 245,180 teachers in nurseries and primary schools.
- 232,630 in secondary schools.
- 30,191 in special schools or pupil referral units.
The remaining staff are centrally employed by a local authority and not attached to any single school setting.
How many teachers are there in Scotland?
In Scotland there are 54,033 teachers. The numbers below are collated from Scottish government statistics and data from the Scottish Council of Independent Schools.
- 25,096 in primary schools.
- 25,049 in secondary schools.
- 2,075 in special schools.
- 1,111 are centrally employed.
- 702 in nurseries.
There are many more female teachers than male in Scotland, especially in the primary sector, where 89 per cent of teachers are female.
How many teachers are there in Wales?
In Wales there are 25,740 teachers in local authority-maintained schools.
- 12,250 in primary schools.
- 1,715 in middle schools.
- 10,505 in secondary schools.
- 920 in special schools.
- 320 in pupil referral units.
According to school workforce data for Wales, 74.2 per cent of teachers are female and 24.8 per cent teach in Welsh.
How many teachers are there in Northern Ireland?
In Northern Ireland there were 21,513 teachers in 2022-23 (19,893 full-time equivalent), according to workforce data from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. The breakdown for this is as follows:
- 8,428 in primary or preparatory schools.
- 10,146 in secondary schools.
- 1,126 in special schools
- 742 in preschool education.
How much do teachers in the UK get paid?
As a newly qualified teacher in England you will start on a salary of at least £30,000. Find out more about what teachers get paid in England by checking the 2024-25 teaching pay scales.
And check out this Tes article on the differences in teacher pay between the home nations.
Read more: How many schools are there in the UK?
