Pupils in England are being promised a wider choice of lessons during their first three years of secondary school. Providing that choice will take teachers as well as space on the timetable.
The government’s November 8 announcement aims to stop schools routinely narrowing subjects too early to prepare for GCSEs. These are the school qualifications usually taken at age 16. Starting their exam courses early can squeeze out other subjects before pupils reach that stage.
Daylight Post found that music and drama teacher training both fell well below their recruitment targets.
Different results in different subjects
A postgraduate trainee is someone learning to teach after completing a university degree. These figures count people starting that training in 2025-26. They do not count unfilled teaching jobs in classrooms today.
The Department for Education’s provisional figures, updated in March 2026, report 17,174 new postgraduate secondary trainees. That was 89% of the overall recruitment target and a reported 13% increase on the previous year.
| Subject | Trainees | Recruitment target | Share of target reached |
|---|---|---|---|
| Music | 369 | 565 | 65% |
| Drama | 258 | 620 | 42% |
| Physical education | 1,478 | 725 | 204% |
Physical education, another subject named in the new plans, recruited more than twice its target. The total therefore hides very different results: a strong intake in one subject cannot supply a teacher trained in another.
The release also changes how some trainees are counted, adding self-funded trainees and revising earlier figures. Its reported overall rise should not be treated as a simple comparison with older, unrevised releases. The next annual figures are due in December 2026.
Keeping subjects open before the exam years
The government wants to protect school years 7 to 9, normally the first three years of secondary education, as a distinct phase. In England this phase is called Key Stage 3. Its curriculum is the range of subjects and content pupils are taught.
The plans would discourage schools from routinely starting GCSE courses early for large groups or closing off subject choices too soon. Teachers would still be able to give more demanding work to pupils ready for it. The full new national curriculum is due later this year.
These are plans for what schools should offer, rather than evidence that pupils already receive more arts teaching. The government’s wider teacher plan promises to focus on subjects and areas struggling to recruit, and on keeping existing teachers.
The training figures identify where that work matters. Protecting music and drama in a curriculum gives them a place on paper. Schools still need people able to teach those lessons if pupils are to experience the wider education being promised.