Nearly 122,000 teachers were recorded on the Queensland register of teachers at the end of 2025, reflecting continued growth in the state's teaching community.

The Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) Annual Report 2025 shows 121,846 teachers were registered at year's end - a 1.8 per cent increase from 2024. Over the past five years, the register has grown steadily from 112,540 teachers in 2021.

The report provides a comprehensive overview of the QCT's work regulating the teaching profession in Queensland. Highlights from the 2025 calendar year included:

• continuing national accreditation processes for initial teacher education (ITE) programs, including panel consideration and approval of 43 programs implementing new national core content
• ongoing digital improvements to registration processes and customer service for applicants and registered teachers, with over 80 per cent of communications delivered via email, SMS and myQCT accounts
• engaging with thousands of registered and preservice teachers through online and live workshops across Queensland, enhancing their understanding of registration requirements and the use of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers across their careers.

The QCT's core responsibility is teacher registration. In 2025, a record 9,050 applications for approval to teach were received and 8,656 were granted.

About 31 per cent of these applications were from graduates who had completed their initial teacher education qualification at a Queensland institution within the previous two years. During the year, 3,093 provisional teachers also progressed to full registration.

Applications approved through mutual recognition arrangements with teacher regulatory authorities across Australia and New Zealand totalled 1,689 - slightly lower than in recent years. For the third consecutive year, teachers transferring from NSW made up the largest group of mutual recognition approvals.

The QCT also processed 753 applications from teachers with overseas qualifications, a 36 per cent increase from 2024. Most overseas applicants had completed their initial teacher education in the United Kingdom and South Africa, with a notable increase in applications from teachers qualified in Kenya.

Permission to Teach (PTT) remains the only other form of approval to teach in Queensland, enabling schools and employing authorities to support an individual to fill a teaching role temporarily when a suitable registered teacher cannot be found. In 2025, 1,325 PTT applications were approved - a 2.4 per cent increase from the previous year, and the lowest increase in PTT approvals in the last five years.

PTT holders continued to represent around one per cent of all approved teachers. The majority (97 per cent) were preservice teachers undertaking their initial teacher education. Most PTT holders (70 per cent) were employed in State schools, with the remainder split between Catholic and Independent schools. Just over half of PTT approvals were for positions in schools outside the South East Queensland metropolitan region.

The average age of registered teachers remained 46, while the average age of applicants was 35. Women represented 76 per cent of the register. The majority of registered teachers (92 per cent) have both a Queensland address and four or more years of teacher education.

Nearly 68 per cent of registered teachers were known to be working in permanent or long-term teaching positions. Of those employed, 64 per cent worked in Queensland State schools.

The QCT also investigates and acts on teacher misconduct matters, including suspending a teacher's registration if they're charged with a serious offence or if they pose an unacceptable risk of harm to children. In 2025, 29 teachers were suspended - down from 33 in 2024 and 38 in 2023. Of these, 14 were for posing an unacceptable risk and 15 followed serious criminal charges. Two teachers' registrations were cancelled - compared with three in 2024 and four in 2023.

During the year, 15 disciplinary proceedings involving teachers were referred to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT), which considers conduct matters and can impose or continue sanctions, including suspension and cancellation, and prohibit a teacher from reapplying for registration.

QCT Director Deanne Fishburn said the report demonstrates the QCT's consistent regulatory work to maintain public confidence in the profession.

"Queensland continues to see steady growth in registered teacher numbers, supported by graduates, interstate teachers and an increasing number of internationally qualified educators choosing to work here," Ms Fishburn said.

"We're maintaining the status of quality teacher regulation through our robust processes to verify eligibility to teach, while also supporting the profession through promotional initiatives and engagement opportunities to inform teachers about career progression.

"While regulatory action is sometimes necessary, the data shows teachers are continuing to meet the high standards expected of the profession."

Read the tabled QCT Annual Report 2025 on the Queensland Parliament website.