Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in England and Wales in primary school have a classroom assistant for part of their school day.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The department does not hold data on whether a child has access to a teaching assistant full time or for part of their school day.

Schools in England are asked to record the headcount and FTE of their teaching assistants. In the November 2024 school workforce census, there were a reported 288,800 teaching assistants (FTE).

Information on the school workforce in England, including the number of teaching assistants in state-funded schools, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication. The publication is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england/2024.

These figures have been available since 5 June 2025.