Over 75% of teachers in Wales remain in their role after five years – EWC

The Education Workforce Council (EWC) has published its 2025 annual statistics, showing over 75% of school teachers who registered in 2020 are still in the job five years later. 

Retention rates for further education support staff and work-based learning practitioners were lower, staying below 50%.

After two years of data cleansing, the EWC reported a 19.3% fall in the number of people whose ethnicity is unknown in some job roles. 

School learning support workers and independent school support staff had the most diversity, with 8.1% and 8.2% identifying as black, Asian or minority ethnic. 

Welsh language skills showed clear differences, with a third of school teachers saying they could speak Welsh. 

This dropped to 9.8% for independent school teachers and 9.2% for adult learning practitioners. 

Lisa Winstone, interim CEO at EWC, said: “We are pleased to present our Annual Education Workforce Statistics for 2025. 

“The information it includes is vital in helping us understand how the education workforce is evolving and where further focus is needed.

“By sharing this data, we aim to support constructive debate and evidence-based decision-making across education policy, including in key areas such as playing our part in supporting the delivery of the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan.”