The number of support staff working in maintained nurseries and schools

Wednesday, September 17, 2003

The number of support staff working in maintained nurseries and schools, including special schools and pupil referral units, in England has risen by 8,400 to reach 225,400, while there are 16,000 more teaching assistants bringing the total to 122,400, according to Government statistics published last week. The data on the school workforce up to January 2003 also revealed that the number of regular teachers in the nursery and primary sectors remained at 197,400, while the number of occasional teachers fell by 1,700 to 8,400, bringing the total number of teachers down to 205,800. Teacher vacancies in primary and nursery schools went down by 690 to 1,110 in January, a vacancy rate of 0.6 per cent.