Teachers: Qualifications
(asked on 15th October 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many state primary school teachers had a degree-level qualification in music, drama, dance or art between 2012 and 2026, broken down by degree subject and by academic year.
Information on the state-funded school workforce in England is published annually in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical release, available on GOV.UK. The release includes published statistics on teachers’ qualifications.
The tables below provide the additional breakdowns requested in these questions for the 2012/13 to 2025/26 academic years, covering the number of teachers, the regional breakdown and the proportion of state-funded primary schools with at least one such teacher. Figures are provided separately for music, drama and art. Qualifications in dance cannot be separately identified in the School Workforce Census qualifications data. Data for the 2026/27 academic year will be collected later this term and published next summer.
Headcount number of state primary school teachers with a degree-level (or higher) qualification in music, drama or art between 2012/13 and 2025/26
| 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
Art and Design | 15,659 | 15,727 | 15,915 | 15,869 | 15,785 | 15,356 | 14,894 | 14,528 | 14,304 | 13,946 | 13,636 | 13,174 | 12,712 | 12,204 |
Drama | 6,694 | 7,067 | 7,454 | 7,710 | 7,958 | 7,904 | 7,821 | 7,809 | 7,814 | 7,818 | 7,840 | 7,567 | 7,347 | 7,125 |
Music | 7,551 | 7,666 | 7,833 | 7,868 | 7,852 | 7,608 | 7,380 | 7,176 | 7,067 | 6,927 | 6,686 | 6,345 | 6,033 | 5,707 |
Proportion of state primary schools with at least one teacher with a degree-level (or higher) qualification in music, drama or art between 2012/13 and 2025/26
| 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
Art and Design | 56.8 | 56.6 | 56.9 | 56.6 | 56.1 | 55.4 | 54.3 | 53.5 | 53.2 | 52.4 | 51.8 | 50.6 | 49.6 | 48.3 |
Drama | 30.6 | 31.9 | 33.0 | 33.8 | 34.7 | 34.8 | 34.2 | 34.1 | 34.1 | 34.2 | 34.2 | 33.5 | 32.8 | 32.2 |
Music | 34.9 | 35.2 | 35.8 | 35.9 | 35.7 | 34.9 | 34.0 | 33.1 | 32.6 | 32.1 | 31.1 | 29.8 | 28.8 | 27.6 |
Headcount number of state primary school teachers with a degree-level (or higher) qualification in music, drama or art by region between 2012/13 and 2025/26
| 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
Art and Design | ||||||||||||||
East Midlands | 1,409 | 1,400 | 1,431 | 1,439 | 1,399 | 1,381 | 1,343 | 1,313 | 1,297 | 1,273 | 1,268 | 1,216 | 1,171 | 1,137 |
East of England | 1,721 | 1,756 | 1,801 | 1,785 | 1,783 | 1,754 | 1,743 | 1,699 | 1,665 | 1,631 | 1,608 | 1,595 | 1,535 | 1,476 |
Inner London | 909 | 971 | 1,007 | 1,017 | 1,037 | 1,011 | 950 | 960 | 924 | 869 | 819 | 777 | 730 | 665 |
North East | 630 | 619 | 637 | 636 | 619 | 588 | 575 | 575 | 573 | 577 | 550 | 530 | 503 | 479 |
North West | 1,935 | 1,938 | 1,985 | 1,943 | 1,912 | 1,869 | 1,794 | 1,756 | 1,736 | 1,722 | 1,696 | 1,664 | 1,607 | 1,534 |
Outer London | 1,434 | 1,499 | 1,510 | 1,499 | 1,489 | 1,438 | 1,399 | 1,338 | 1,290 | 1,210 | 1,182 | 1,134 | 1,069 | 1,054 |
South East | 2,585 | 2,568 | 2,568 | 2,616 | 2,620 | 2,543 | 2,513 | 2,421 | 2,420 | 2,370 | 2,326 | 2,257 | 2,163 | 2,079 |
South West | 1,686 | 1,669 | 1,677 | 1,682 | 1,717 | 1,622 | 1,579 | 1,537 | 1,553 | 1,501 | 1,475 | 1,434 | 1,386 | 1,330 |
West Midlands | 1,930 | 1,918 | 1,901 | 1,864 | 1,847 | 1,820 | 1,745 | 1,695 | 1,646 | 1,642 | 1,586 | 1,481 | 1,471 | 1,414 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 1,420 | 1,389 | 1,398 | 1,388 | 1,362 | 1,330 | 1,253 | 1,234 | 1,200 | 1,151 | 1,126 | 1,086 | 1,077 | 1,036 |
Drama | ||||||||||||||
East Midlands | 606 | 618 | 665 | 690 | 715 | 716 | 734 | 712 | 733 | 723 | 721 | 696 | 681 | 651 |
East of England | 741 | 781 | 815 | 854 | 879 | 890 | 895 | 915 | 903 | 885 | 895 | 870 | 840 | 825 |
Inner London | 448 | 519 | 582 | 584 | 612 | 602 | 585 | 567 | 558 | 545 | 538 | 500 | 476 | 429 |
North East | 173 | 179 | 197 | 220 | 231 | 223 | 219 | 216 | 221 | 217 | 217 | 210 | 206 | 187 |
North West | 803 | 842 | 880 | 918 | 943 | 946 | 935 | 954 | 925 | 953 | 978 | 968 | 927 | 945 |
Outer London | 762 | 822 | 853 | 862 | 877 | 845 | 818 | 826 | 806 | 799 | 784 | 764 | 728 | 692 |
South East | 1,278 | 1,334 | 1,392 | 1,469 | 1,512 | 1,503 | 1,467 | 1,486 | 1,521 | 1,511 | 1,499 | 1,432 | 1,392 | 1,338 |
South West | 696 | 741 | 769 | 786 | 815 | 816 | 814 | 795 | 810 | 838 | 851 | 822 | 794 | 776 |
West Midlands | 556 | 575 | 609 | 638 | 659 | 668 | 671 | 666 | 654 | 670 | 683 | 655 | 660 | 651 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 631 | 656 | 692 | 689 | 715 | 695 | 683 | 672 | 683 | 677 | 674 | 650 | 643 | 631 |
Music | ||||||||||||||
East Midlands | 664 | 659 | 662 | 669 | 659 | 654 | 650 | 625 | 623 | 615 | 573 | 541 | 513 | 479 |
East of England | 901 | 925 | 948 | 957 | 968 | 936 | 902 | 875 | 857 | 826 | 805 | 746 | 717 | 687 |
Inner London | 355 | 384 | 419 | 417 | 438 | 416 | 413 | 410 | 385 | 361 | 332 | 329 | 303 | 278 |
North East | 259 | 256 | 260 | 255 | 268 | 259 | 260 | 245 | 242 | 241 | 221 | 223 | 209 | 215 |
North West | 974 | 986 | 993 | 1,008 | 1,008 | 951 | 930 | 903 | 895 | 866 | 857 | 821 | 780 | 746 |
Outer London | 624 | 645 | 680 | 671 | 641 | 624 | 569 | 582 | 578 | 565 | 544 | 505 | 498 | 454 |
South East | 1,343 | 1,344 | 1,366 | 1,390 | 1,400 | 1,361 | 1,308 | 1,275 | 1,275 | 1,257 | 1,225 | 1,171 | 1,115 | 1,065 |
South West | 882 | 923 | 930 | 937 | 923 | 901 | 880 | 861 | 854 | 854 | 830 | 787 | 737 | 700 |
West Midlands | 777 | 787 | 799 | 788 | 781 | 762 | 744 | 709 | 680 | 688 | 660 | 628 | 602 | 565 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | 772 | 757 | 776 | 776 | 766 | 744 | 724 | 691 | 678 | 654 | 639 | 594 | 559 | 518 |
Source: School Workforce Census
Note: state primary schools includes states nursery schools