6,500 additional teachers delivery plan targets secondary, special and college staffing.

The government says it will recruit 6,500 new teachers for mainstream secondary schools, special schools and further education colleges over this Parliament and will use annual workforce data to monitor progress.

The government has published a delivery plan to recruit 6,500 additional teachers during this Parliament. It presents the move as part of a wider effort to raise teaching quality and reduce the link between background and success. The plan focuses recruitment and retention efforts on mainstream secondary schools, special schools and further education colleges, where demand is said to be greatest. Annual data publications will be used to track progress and adjust delivery. What is known: - Target: at least 6,500 more full‑time equivalent teachers in secondary, special and further education colleges by the end of this Parliament. - Baseline: 284,626 teachers (FTE) in academic year 2023 to 2024 across mainstream secondary, special schools and colleges, as reported by the referenced workforce datasets. - Funding and incentives: the plan cites around £700 million invested across a suite of interventions, including over £330 million in financial incentives and additional college funding (noted as over £590 million for 2025–26). - Recruitment and retention indicators: the secondary and special school workforce grew by 2,346 between 2023–24 and 2024–25, trainee recruitment has risen and the plan reports a fall in school teacher leaver rates to 9% and 17,274 teachers returning to the classroom. - Monitoring: progress will be reported through existing publications such as the Further Education Workforce in England (next update due May 2026) and the School Workforce Census (next update due June 2026), alongside other surveys and stakeholder engagement. Summary: The delivery plan combines targeted recruitment, retention incentives and development support aimed at growing teacher numbers and addressing subject shortages in the identified sectors. The government reports early gains in workforce growth and trainee recruitment and says it is on track to meet the pledge. Formal workforce data updates due in May and June 2026 are cited as the next checkpoints for tracking progress.