0.4% Vacancy Rate, 38,600 Gone: The Workforce Census

This week's the workforce census — the same count behind the numbers everyone half-remembers. Vacancy rate: 0.4%, genuinely low. Teachers who left last year: 38,600. Both true, both from the same DfE release, describing the same system from two different angles. Four numbers, one staffroom feeling, and the figure that's quietly the most revealing of all.

What's covered

• The Number: 38,600 — teachers who left the sector in one year, against a reassuring 0.4% national vacancy rate

• Four pillars: vacancy rate, leavers, the 4,654-vs-6,500 recruitment shortfall, and the pupil:teacher ratio that barely moved

• Why a low vacancy rate and a high leaver figure aren't a contradiction — they measure different things

• The honest concession: nothing in this dataset explains how the pupil:teacher ratio stayed stable despite the churn

• Same idea, three rooms: what workforce strain looks like in primary, secondary and a specialist setting

• The ~7-month lag between the census date (Nov 2025) and its publication (June 2026), and what that means for reading this year's own census week

Printable one-pager for this episode, free: https://theeducationcommute.co.uk/#newsletter-staff

Two free newsletters, one for staff and one for parents and carers, same evidence written for the person reading it.

Sources

• DfE / gov.uk official statistics, School workforce in England: November 2025 (published 4 June 2026)

• Full fact-check available on request

Both voices on this show are synthesised (NotebookLM, Google); the research, reading and editorial judgement are done by a serving practitioner.

Strand: Leaders