Responding to a National Audit Office report which finds that it is unclear whether the government's pledge to recruit 6,500 new teachers will be met - at the same time as the Department for Education announces that teacher training targets will be cut for 2025/26, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“This cut in teacher training targets is surprising. Last year, teacher recruitment targets were missed – with secondary schools only reaching 62% of the target number of trainees, and primaries 88%. So it is not clear why this year’s targets for both are around a fifth lower.

“Given the National Audit Office has found that secondary school pupil numbers will rise, it is hard to see why targets would be reduced.

“We need to understand more about how these targets have been calculated. This is particularly important in light of the government’s ambition to recruit 6,500 more teachers.”

NB: this year’s target for secondaries is 20% lower than in 2024, and the target for primaries is 19% lower.