Provisional statistics published today showed that the overall school workforce has grown by 20,100 over the last 12 months to 767,600 – the biggest year-on-year growth since 2005, giving schools the highest number of teachers for a generation.
The figures show 1,900 more full-time equivalent teachers, 13,100 teaching assistants and 5,100 other support staff in authority maintained schools, Academies and City Technology Colleges since last year.
It means there are now 441,200 teachers, a rise of 40,900 over the last decade. There are now 176,900 teaching assistants, a rise of 116,300 – almost triple the number 10 years ago.
The overall pupil-adult and pupil-teacher ratios have dropped year-on-year in primary and secondary schools. Pupil statistics, also published today, show that average secondary school class sizes have fallen again and remained constant overall in primary schools. Average Key Stage 2 classes have made the biggest drop for six years but Key Stage 1 class sizes have risen slightly.
The BBC however have reported that the number of vacant teaching posts in England’s schools went up by almost a quarter in the past year. The number of unfilled jobs was 2,510 in January or 0.7% of the total workforce, up 470 or 23% from 2007.
