Further education workforce
Academic year 2024/25

Description

This page describes the data provided in the Further Education Workforce in England national statistic underlying data files. This data is released under the terms of the  Open Government License (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/) and is intended to meet at least 3 stars for  Open Data (https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/improving-the-transparency-and-accountability-of-government-and-its-services/supporting-pages/releasing-data-in-open-formats).

The methodology should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality, as well as explaining methodology used in producing the data.

Coverage

The Further Education Workforce in England publication provides the latest information at national and regional level on the number and characteristics of staff that work in further education providers in England.

The publication summarises information collected from further education providers via the   Further Education Workforce Data Collection (https://few.submit-learner-data.service.gov.uk/Home).

The publication and it's underlying data files provide information on:

- Workforce numbers and characteristics- there are various breakdowns of these; post held, further education provider type, gender, age, disability and ethnicity.
- Workforce pay-  the statistics provide an age, gender and provider type breakdown of annual salary for full  time staff on permanent and fixed term contracts. Where appropriate, average mean and median salaries are provided for comparison purposes.
- Workforce contracts and working patterns- there are various breakdowns of these; post held, further education provider type, contract type,  and whether they work full/part-time.
- Subjects taught - the number of teachers teaching each subject in each provider type.
- Teacher vacancies- the number and proportion of vacancies for each role type. Vacancies are recorded if they occurred at any point in the academic year.
- Governor  characteristics- the characteristics of governors by various breakdowns: age, ethnicity, years of service.

In most cases, underlying data files include national and regional information for schools in England.

File formats and conventions

Symbols used in the underlying data files are:

x = not available - information has not been collected or there are no estimates available at this level of aggregation.

z =  not applicable - statistic cannot be produced. For example where a denominator is not available to produce a percentage.

c = confidential - where presentation of data would disclose confidential information, for example being able to identify details about a single respondent, this data must be suppressed and given this marker to maintain confidentiality clauses.

u = low reliability - values of the potentially low quality, for example where values of statistical significance have been calculated.

Data files

All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

Data files

Proportion of providers returning data (workforce collection)

Filename: proportion_providers_returning_data_workforce_collection.csv
Geographic levels: National
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: Proportion of providers returning data to the further education workforce data collection.

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name    |  Variable description
---------------  |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
provider_type    |  Name of provider type - Select the particular FE sector type you are interested in.
response_rate    |  Percentage of providers that returned data
total_providers  |  Total providers asked to return data

Footnotes:

1. All percentages and rates are rounded to 1 decimal place. Where figures have rounded to 0.0%, this may not necessarily indicate zero staff present for this measure.


Proportion of providers returning data (vacancy collection)

Filename: proportion_providers_returning_data_vacancy_collection.csv
Geographic levels: National
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: Proportion of providers returning data to the further education vacancy data collection.

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name    |  Variable description
---------------  |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
provider_type    |  Name of provider type - Select the particular FE sector type you are interested in.
response_rate    |  Percentage of providers that returned data
total_providers  |  Total providers asked to return data

Footnotes:

1. All percentages and rates are rounded to 1 decimal place. Where figures have rounded to 0.0%, this may not necessarily indicate zero staff present for this measure.


Proportion of providers returning data (governor collection)

Filename: proportion_providers_returning_data_governor_collection.csv
Geographic levels: National
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: Proportion of providers returning data to the further education governor data collection.

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name    |  Variable description
---------------  |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
provider_type    |  Name of provider type - Select the particular FE sector type you are interested in.
response_rate    |  Percentage of providers that returned data
total_providers  |  Total providers asked to return data

Footnotes:

1. All percentages and rates are rounded to 1 decimal place. Where figures have rounded to 0.0%, this may not necessarily indicate zero staff present for this measure.


Provider level size of the workforce

Filename: provider_level_workforce_size.csv
Geographic levels: Provider
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: Size of the workforce by provider.

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name     |  Variable description
----------------  |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
contract_type     |  Contract type
main_role_type    |  Type of staff member role
number_staff_fte  |  Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff
number_staff_hc   |  Headcount of staff
provider_type     |  Name of provider type - Select the particular FE sector type you are interested in.

Footnotes:

1. This release shows data for further education providers in England. The location that a provider is based in has been determined from the main site/head office recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database in the Department for Education. This records the main site only and may not cover all locations or regions that a provider operates.
2. If the number of staff is 0 for a particular row, then this could either indicate the provider has zero staff in that category or it could also indicate an incomplete submission to the data collection for that measure.


Retention in statutory FE sector all roles from 2324 to 2425

Filename: retention_in_statutory_sector_further_education_workforce_2324_to_2425.csv
Geographic levels: National; Regional
Time period: 2024/25
Content summary: The proportion of individuals who remained in the statutory FE section (General Further Education Colleges and Sixth Form Colleges) from the 2023/24 academic year to the 2024/25 academic year.

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name   |  Variable description
--------------  |  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
lower_limit     |  Lower limit for retention of staff in stautory sector: 2023/24 to 2024/25
main_role_type  |  Type of staff member role
midpoint        |  Midpoint for retention of staff in stautory sector: 2023/24 to 2024/25
upper_limit     |  Upper limit for retention of staff in stautory sector: 2023/24 to 2024/25

Footnotes:

1. This release shows data for further education providers in England. The location that a provider is based in has been determined from the main site/head office recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database in the Department for Education. This records the main site only and may not cover all locations or regions that a provider operates.
2. All percentages and rates are rounded to 1 decimal place. Where figures have rounded to 0.0%, this may not necessarily indicate zero staff present for this measure.


Size of the further education workforce

Filename: size_of_further_education_workforce.csv
Geographic levels: National
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: Headcount and Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) of staff by further education provider type.

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name     |  Variable description
----------------  |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
contract_type     |  Contract type
main_role_type    |  Type of staff member role
number_staff_fte  |  Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff
number_staff_hc   |  Headcount of staff
provider_type     |  Name of provider type - Select the particular FE sector type you are interested in.

Footnotes:

1. This release shows data for further education providers in England. The location that a provider is based in has been determined from the main site/head office recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database in the Department for Education. This records the main site only and may not cover all locations or regions that a provider operates.
2. National figures have been scaled to account for providers who did not respond to the Further Education Workforce Data Collection. Therefore national figures are an estimate. Regional figures have not been scaled and are based on responding providers only.
3. Management roles may include some teaching staff with additional responsibilities, or some managers of staff in support or admin roles. The types or number of managers may differ across provider types.


Average pay of further education workforce

Filename: pay_of_further_education_workforce.csv
Geographic levels: National; Regional
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: Mean and median pay of further education staff, by provider type. There are breakdowns for age, gender and roles.

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name          |  Variable description
---------------------  |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
age_group              |  Age group
contract_type          |  Contract type (permanent and fixed term only)
gender                 |  Gender
main_role_type         |  Type of staff member role
main_subject_taught    |  Main subject taught
mean_pay               |  Mean annual salary (permanent and fixed term staff only)
median_pay             |  Median annual salary (permanent and fixed term staff only)
number_staff_in_group  |  Number of staff in sample used to determine mean or median pay
provider_type          |  Name of provider type - Select the particular FE sector type you are interested in.
working_pattern        |  Working pattern

Footnotes:

1. This release shows data for further education providers in England. The location that a provider is based in has been determined from the main site/head office recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database in the Department for Education. This records the main site only and may not cover all locations or regions that a provider operates.
2. Management roles may include some teaching staff with additional responsibilities, or some managers of staff in support or admin roles. The types of managers may differ across provider types and this could drive differences in management staff pay across provider types.
3. Mean and median salary figures shown are estimates from the providers that returned data to the further education workforce data collection. We have not attempted to estimate the salaries for staff in the providers who did not return data.
4. Management roles may include some teaching staff with additional responsibilities, or some managers of staff in support or admin roles. The types or number of managers may differ across provider types.
5. Where "no data" is displayed, this is because this subject is no longer collected on the further education data collection. See the methodology section "Subjects taught by teaching staff" to show which subjects are no longer collected.
6. This field shows the number of staff in the providers that responded to the data collection. These staff salaries were then used to create the mean/median salary. This is presented here because average pay is calculated from the responding providers only. If you would like estimates of the number of staff in all providers, these data can be found in tables titled 'Characteristics of further education workforce', 'Size of the further education workforce' or 'Subjects taught by teachers in further education providers'.
7. The Further Education Data Collection currently collects gender of staff, as opposed to their legal sex. There are plans to start collecting sex instead of gender in future collections.


Contract and working patterns of the further education workforce

Filename: contract_info_of_further_education_workforce.csv
Geographic levels: National; Regional
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: Contract and working patterns of further education staff, by provider type. There are breakdowns for contract types and working pattern (e.g. full time or part time).

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name     |  Variable description
----------------  |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
contract_type     |  Contract type
gender            |  Gender
main_role_type    |  Type of staff member role
number_staff_fte  |  Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff
number_staff_hc   |  Headcount of staff
perc_fte          |  Percent of FTE within category
perc_hc           |  Percent of headcount staff within category
provider_type     |  Name of provider type - Select the particular FE sector type you are interested in.
working_pattern   |  Working pattern

Footnotes:

1. This release shows data for further education providers in England. The location that a provider is based in has been determined from the main site/head office recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database in the Department for Education. This records the main site only and may not cover all locations or regions that a provider operates.
2. All percentages and rates are rounded to 1 decimal place. Where figures have rounded to 0.0%, this may not necessarily indicate zero staff present for this measure.
3. National figures have been scaled to account for providers who did not respond to the Further Education Workforce Data Collection. Therefore national figures are an estimate. Regional figures have not been scaled and are based on responding providers only.
4. Management roles may include some teaching staff with additional responsibilities, or some managers of staff in support or admin roles. The types or number of managers may differ across provider types.
5. Working patterns and contract types are presented  for a staff member's main contract only.
6. The Further Education Data Collection currently collects gender of staff, as opposed to their legal sex. There are plans to start collecting sex instead of gender in future collections.


Characteristics of further education workforce

Filename: characteristics_further_education_workforce.csv
Geographic levels: National; Regional
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: Characteristics of the further education workforce. There are breakdowns for gender, ethnicity, disability status and age.

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name        |  Variable description
-------------------  |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
characteristic_type  |  Staff characteristic type - Select the characteristic you are interested in
contract_type        |  Contract type
main_role_type       |  Type of staff member role
number_staff_fte     |  Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff
number_staff_hc      |  Headcount of staff
perc_fte             |  Percent of FTE within category
perc_hc              |  Percent of headcount staff within category
provider_type        |  Name of provider type - Select the particular FE sector type you are interested in.

Footnotes:

1. This release shows data for further education providers in England. The location that a provider is based in has been determined from the main site/head office recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database in the Department for Education. This records the main site only and may not cover all locations or regions that a provider operates.
2. All percentages and rates are rounded to 1 decimal place. Where figures have rounded to 0.0%, this may not necessarily indicate zero staff present for this measure.
3. National figures have been scaled to account for providers who did not respond to the Further Education Workforce Data Collection. Therefore national figures are an estimate. Regional figures have not been scaled and are based on responding providers only.
4. Management roles may include some teaching staff with additional responsibilities, or some managers of staff in support or admin roles. The types or number of managers may differ across provider types.
5. The Further Education Data Collection currently collects gender of staff, as opposed to their legal sex. There are plans to start collecting sex instead of gender in future collections.


Subjects taught by teachers in further education providers

Filename: subjects_taught_teachers_further_education.csv
Geographic levels: National; Regional
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: Subjects taught by teachers in further education providers

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name                            |  Variable description
---------------------------------------  |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
main_subject_taught                      |  Main subject taught
national_subject_rank                    |  Rank by provider type of number of teachers teaching subject
number_staff_hc                          |  Headcount of staff
percentage_of_teachers_teaching_subject  |  Percentage of teachers teaching the subject by provider type
provider_type                            |  Name of provider type - Select the particular FE sector type you are interested in.
subject_type                             |  Type of subject being taught

Footnotes:

1. This release shows data for further education providers in England. The location that a provider is based in has been determined from the main site/head office recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database in the Department for Education. This records the main site only and may not cover all locations or regions that a provider operates.
2. All percentages and rates are rounded to 1 decimal place. Where figures have rounded to 0.0%, this may not necessarily indicate zero staff present for this measure.
3. National figures have been scaled to account for providers who did not respond to the Further Education Workforce Data Collection. Therefore national figures are an estimate. Regional figures have not been scaled and are based on responding providers only.


Teacher, management and leadership vacancies in further education providers

Filename: vacancies_further_education_providers.csv
Geographic levels: National; Regional
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: Unfilled vacancies for teachers and managers and leaders. Also gives the number of unfilled vacancies by subject for teachers

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name                                   |  Variable description
----------------------------------------------  |  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
main_role_type                                  |  Type of staff member role
main_subject_taught                             |  Main subject taught
number_staff_responding_providers               |  Number of staff (responding providers only)
number_vacancies_unfilled_responding_providers  |  Number of unfilled vacancies by the end of the academic year (responding providers only)
provider_type                                   |  Name of provider type - Select the particular FE sector type you are interested in.
unfilled_vacancy_rate                           |  Unfilled vacancy rate per 100

Footnotes:

1. This release shows data for further education providers in England. The location that a provider is based in has been determined from the main site/head office recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database in the Department for Education. This records the main site only and may not cover all locations or regions that a provider operates.
2. All percentages and rates are rounded to 1 decimal place. Where figures have rounded to 0.0%, this may not necessarily indicate zero staff present for this measure.
3. Management roles may include some teaching staff with additional responsibilities, or some managers of staff in support or admin roles. The types or number of managers may differ across provider types.
4. This field shows the number of staff in the providers that responded to the data collection. This is presented here because vacancy rates are calculated from the responding providers only. If you would like estimates of the number of staff in all providers, these data can be found in tables titled 'Characteristics of further education workforce', 'Size of the further education workforce' or 'Subjects taught by teachers in further education providers'.
5. We have not attempted to scale these figures to provide an overall estimate for all providers due to potential bias in the data return. Since Other Provider Type has a very low response rate to the vacancy data collection, vacancy rates for this provider type may not be representative.


Governor demographics in colleges

Filename: governor_demographics_colleges.csv
Geographic levels: National; Regional
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: Characteristics of college governors. There are breakdowns for gender, ethnicity, disability status and age

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name                            |  Variable description
---------------------------------------  |  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
characteristic_type                      |  Staff characteristic type - Select the characteristic you are interested in
number_governors_in_responding_colleges  |  Number of governors (responding colleges only)
percentage_of_governors_within_category  |  Percent of governors within category
provider_type                            |  Name of provider type - Select the particular FE sector type you are interested in.

Footnotes:

1. This release shows data for further education providers in England. The location that a provider is based in has been determined from the main site/head office recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database in the Department for Education. This records the main site only and may not cover all locations or regions that a provider operates.
2. All percentages and rates are rounded to 1 decimal place. Where figures have rounded to 0.0%, this may not necessarily indicate zero staff present for this measure.
3. National figures have been scaled to account for providers who did not respond to the Further Education Workforce Data Collection. Therefore national figures are an estimate. Regional figures have not been scaled and are based on responding providers only.
4. An independent governor is a governor appointed from outside the college.
5. The Further Education Data Collection currently collects gender of staff, as opposed to their legal sex. There are plans to start collecting sex instead of gender in future collections.


Governor vacancies in colleges

Filename: governor_unfilled_vacancies.csv
Geographic levels: National; Regional
Time period: 2021/22 to 2024/25
Content summary: Details of the number of vacancies in governing bodies for colleges

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable name                                            |  Variable description
-------------------------------------------------------  |  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
number_governor_vacancies_unfilled_responding_providers  |  Number of unfilled governor vacancies by the end of the academic year (responding providers only)
number_governors_in_responding_colleges                  |  Number of governors (responding colleges only)
provider_type                                            |  Name of provider type - Select the particular FE sector type you are interested in.
unfilled_governor_vacancy_rate                           |  Unfilled governor vacancy rate per 100

Footnotes:

1. This release shows data for further education providers in England. The location that a provider is based in has been determined from the main site/head office recorded in the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) database in the Department for Education. This records the main site only and may not cover all locations or regions that a provider operates.
2. All percentages and rates are rounded to 1 decimal place. Where figures have rounded to 0.0%, this may not necessarily indicate zero staff present for this measure.
