A major new NFER research project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, has been launched to continue shedding light on the significant pressures facing England’s education workforce.
Building on NFER’s Teacher Labour Market in England Annual Report, the study will provide a comprehensive analysis of teacher supply and shortages. The scope will also extend to include annual reporting on the early years, further education (FE) teacher and school support staff workforces.
The research comes at a crucial time. The Government has pledged to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers in schools and FE and expand childcare entitlements – creating demand for an additional 35,000 early years staff by September 2025 – and introducing a new negotiating body for school support staff. Yet, recruitment and retention remain at crisis levels, with persistent shortages in key subjects, rising vacancies and ongoing concerns about pay and workload.
Over the next three years (2026, 2027 and 2028), the project will track the latest workforce trends and assess whether the Government is on course to meet its targets. The study will analyse issues including recruitment, retention, pay, vacancies and working conditions across different staff groups, and how these compare to similar individuals working in other sectors.
The findings will be shared through dedicated reports – the first to be published in spring 2026 – each focusing on a different education workforce group: schoolteachers, early years practitioners, FE teachers and school support staff. This will be complemented by webinars and sector conferences, aimed at ensuring ministers, policymakers and sector leaders have the evidence they need to inform decisions.
Jack Worth, Education Workforce Lead at NFER, said:
“This research will see NFER continuing to provide independent, evidence-based insights on the realities facing the education workforce.
“We are delighted that the Nuffield Foundation is funding us to widen the scope to include early years practitioners, FE teachers and school support staff, in addition to schoolteachers, so that we can build a system-wide picture that highlights both common pressures and sector-specific challenges.
“If staff shortages remain unaddressed, there is a real risk that the quality of education and childcare provision will be undermined, with long-term consequences for children, young people and the wider economy.”