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More people training to teach

ended 04. December 2025

Pupils will benefit from more expert teachers next year, the Government claims, as new figures show record numbers of people are training to teach in vital subjects including physics and computing.

The latest Initial Teacher Training (ITT) census data shows strong growth in trainee numbers, with over 32,000 talented individuals choosing teaching as a career choice - a rise of 11% on last year - and government exceeding its target on recruitment of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) teachers for the first time since it was introduced in 2019.

Physics trainees are up 36%, computing up 44%, and maths up by 16%. In total, the data shows an increase of 21% in STEM subjects - exceeding the trainee target - with 6,700 new entrants, meaning more children will have access to high-quality, specialist teachers, and helping to deliver on the government’s manifesto commitment to recruit and retain 6,500 additional teachers by the end of this Parliament.

Is this a positive through and through or might it reflect something more structural unfolding in the economy, as many people, pushed out of their jobs due to AI, losing their jobs as unemployment rises or perhaps closing their businesses in such a brutal fiscal climate, have no choice but to turn to teaching? Or perhaps it is also indicative of society becoming more quality of life-focused rather than money-focused?

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Ben Perks
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
It’s great that there is an influx of people that want to teach. Many of the teachers I know are trying to exit the industry and staff turnover in local schools is high. Perhaps this enthusiasm to teach dwindles when they realise that school funding is on its knees, the workload on teachers is unrealistic, the hours aren’t as advertised and your average teenager is an arse that won’t listen. Still, it’s encouraging to see optimistic individuals on the horizon.
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Kate Underwood
Founder & Chief People Strategist at Kate Underwood HR and Training
On the face of it, this looks like a win for kids. Look a bit closer and it also feels like a mid-life career crisis for half the workforce. More STEM teachers is good news. I am all for proper physics, maths and computing teachers rather than “whoever once changed a fuse, you can do science”. But let’s be honest. Some of this surge is not just a sudden urge to inspire Year 9. It is people chewed up by corporates, tech layoffs, AI and a brutal small business climate. More people are looking at teaching and think, steady salary, clear holidays, purpose, yes please. If we were serious about preparing kids for real life, we would also be shouting about financial education. Young people need to know how to budget, deal with tax and credit and learn about APR from Klarna, not just answer a maths question on compound interest. So yes, more STEM teachers is positive. But it is also a hint that life outside the classroom has become so chaotic that 30 teenagers now feels like the safer option.
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Rohit Parmar-Mistry
Founder at Pattrn Data
Let’s cut through the government’s victory lap. A 44% surge in computing trainees isn’t a sudden burst of altruism, it’s a flight to safety. I’ve spent over a decade in corporate tech and automation, and right now, the private sector is shedding skin. The 'learn to code' gold rush is over. Between the AI hype machine promising to replace developers and a brutal fiscal climate crushing SMEs, technical talent is running for the shelter of the public sector. This isn’t a recruitment triumph; it’s an economic symptom. For years, schools couldn't compete with tech salaries. Now? The stability of a teacher's pension looks far more attractive than a volatile start-up role or a corporate gig where you're one algorithm away from redundancy. The silver lining? If these are genuine industry experts, they might teach kids how technology actually works, messy, complex and human-centric. But let’s be honest: they’re here because the market is broken, not because the government cracked the code.
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Colette Mason
AI Ethics Consultant at Clever Clogs AI
Record numbers mean nothing if they're running from AI redundancy rather than running toward children. We need teachers who chose the classroom, not those who had nowhere else to go. The computing surge should alarm us. Are these refugees from tech layoffs or committed educators? Without proper support, pay, and conditions, we'll watch them leave as quickly as they arrived. This isn't recruitment success until we see retention figures in three years and an improvement in pupil attainment.