Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many PE teachers were employed by schools in each of the last 10 calendar years, by local authority.

The headcount of physical education (PE) teachers in service in state-funded secondary schools in November 2011 to November 2020 is provided in the attached table. It is also published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

While there is no formal register for PE teachers, for context, information is also shown on the percentage of hours spent teaching PE in each year and the percentage of hours of PE which are taught by a teacher with a relevant post A level qualification. A relevant post A level qualification is a level 4 qualification or above in physical education, sports science, sports physiology, sports psychology or dance (including ballet).

Information for teachers in primary schools and broken down by local authority is not available due to the manner in which data is collected from a sample of secondary schools.