UK public sector FTE employment: education
UK public sector FTE employment: education stood at 1,237 thousands in Q2 2026, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS). It is one of the indicators in the Jobs by industry and sector table (Value · Quarterly), with a complete series running from Q1 1999 to Q2 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Jobs by industry and sector table
| Indicator | Q2-2026 | Q1-2026 | Q4-2025 | Q3-2025 | Q2-2025 | Q1-2025 | Q4-2024 | Q3-2024 | Q2-2024 | Q1-2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public sector employment, full-time equivalent | |||||||||||
| Education | 1,237 | 1,238 | 1,236 | 1,237 | 1,238 | 1,237 | 1,236 | 1,236 | 1,229 | 1,232 | |
| Police | 273 | 273 | 273 | 272 | 273 | 273 | 273 | 272 | 271 | 272 |
Understanding UK public sector FTE employment: education
Full-time equivalent labour volume for teaching staff, educational administrators, and support personnel funded by state authorities across the United Kingdom is captured in this metric. The calculation standardises part-time instructional and support hours into full-time equivalent units for state schools, further education, and higher education. Excluded are private independent schools and commercial educational establishments operating outside public funding frameworks. This series provides a standardised volume measure of state-backed educational staffing.
Interpretation must account for academic term cycles and the prevalence of part-time working arrangements among educational support staff. Revisions to early estimates reflect delayed administrative returns from educational institutions. Analysts should prefer period-on-period comparisons when monitoring recruitment initiatives, while remembering that structural reforms to school funding can influence long-term trends. Confusing this standardised volume measure with raw headcount figures can misrepresent actual instructional capacity.
Frequently asked questions
- How does this educational FTE series differ from the headcount version?
- This measure converts part-time teaching and support hours into full-time equivalent units, whereas headcount treats all workers equally.
- Does this series cover staff in private fee-paying schools?
- No, independent schools are excluded, limiting the scope to state-funded educational institutions.
- What causes revisions to provisional educational FTE data?
- Late submission of payroll and working-hour returns by educational bodies leads to subsequent revisions in published figures.