Northumberland teacher numbers have remained stable, new figures show.

While the school workforce across the country has increased slightly, thousands of teachers have left the state school sector.

The school leaders’ union NAHT called for the next government to commit to urgent action to address the “recruitment and retention crisis facing our schools”.

Department for Education figures show there were 2,681 teachers working at the 168 state-funded schools in Northumberland as of November. This was close to the 2,683 teachers working the year before.

Yet across England, the school workforce has increased “marginally” by around 300 teachers to 468,700. This includes some teachers without qualified teacher status.

Teacher vacancies in state schools in England have more than doubled in the past three years, reaching an all-time high of 2,800 in November.

In Northumberland schools, 11 teaching roles needed to be filled – up from nine the year before. Of these, 10 were for classroom teachers.

There were also 15 positions that were temporarily filled.

Classroom teachers’ median pay in Northumberland saw an increase of eight per cent since 2022, reaching £44,900. This was more than the average for England, which was £43,800.