Commenting on the new initial teacher training data released today by the Department for Education, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union, the NAHT said:

“On the face of it, these figures show some welcome progress on trainee numbers.

“However, this comes against a backdrop of the surprising move to steep cuts in targets for both primary and secondary recruitment by around a fifth at a time when school leaders continue to tell us they are facing shortages of teachers.

“Even with these lower targets, secondary recruitment still fell some way short of what was hoped for at a time when the number of secondary school pupils is increasing.

“Crucially, too many new and experienced teachers and leaders are still quitting amid long hours, spiralling pupil needs, the harm caused by Ofsted inspections, and the failure of pay to keep pace with other graduate professions, despite improvements in the last couple of years. It’s like trying to fill a bath without a plug.

“Other recent data shows almost one in five (19.4%) teachers quit within two years of qualification, rising to more than one in four (26.7%) after three years.

“We need the government to not only go further in recruiting new teachers, but also in ensuring the job remains attractive to them once they take post. That means prioritising retention of serving teachers and leaders by tackling unsustainable levels of workload, truly rethinking unnecessary high stakes accountability – including Ofsted, promoting flexible working, and delivering further above-inflation pay rises over to restore real-terms pay to 2020 levels.”

The figures show:

New entrants to Initial Teacher training rose 11% from 28,898 in 24/25 to 32,175 in 25/26.

Primary post-graduate ITT recruitment was at 126% of the target. There were fewer applicants – 19,157, down from 19,237 in 2024/25, but the proportion accepted rose by 10%.

Secondary post-graduate ITT recruitment was at 88% of the target, but up from 61% in 24/25. Applications rose by 5% to 39,259 and the proportion accepted rose by 12%.

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