Report Finds Teacher Vacancy Rates Hit Record High

March 13, 2025 TruthUSA

The authors also discovered that a higher number of individuals leaving teaching are of working age rather than retirement, with working-age leavers at the highest rate since 2010/11.

The report found that vacancy levels for teaching are at their highest rates since records began in 2010.

The report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), published on Thursday, stated that unfilled vacancies reached six per 1,000 teachers in 2023/24, double the rate before the COVID-19 pandemic and six times higher than in 2010/11.

Authors found that more people leaving the profession are of working age rather than retirement.

Referencing the Schools Workforce Census (SWC), they write that “after excluding retirements, 8.8 percent of the teaching workforce left while they were still of working age in 2022/23, the highest rate that has been observed since 2010/11, when comparable SWC data became available.”

NFER’s report, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, said that this, “coupled with persistently low levels of recruitment” into initial teacher training (ITT), “is leading to widespread teacher shortages.”

Department for Education (DfE) data showed that in 2024/2025, the government hit 88 percent of its ITT primary school recruitment target, down from 94 percent in 2023/24.