This release is largely based on the School Workforce Census (SWC). The census, which runs each November, collects information from schools and local authorities on the school workforce in state-funded schools in England.

Independent schools, non-maintained special schools, sixth-form colleges and further education establishments are not included in the SWC.

This release includes information on teaching and support staff, their characteristics, teacher retention and pay, qualifications and details of the subjects taught in secondary schools.

We present some breakdowns of this data in the text below, and more detail is available via the data files.

This year alternative estimates of teacher pay have been published as ad hoc statistics in Median teacher pay using teacher pension scheme (TPS) data. This uses TPS data which is retrospectively updated with any pay decisions that were backdated to before the census date in November each year. It is intended to provide an estimate that is more representative of teachers' pay after the award is fully implemented.