International teacher recruitment in 2026 feels different from a decade ago.

I worked in teacher recruitment from 2015 to 2019 and returned to the industry in 2026. Since coming back, I have noticed something interesting. A highly qualified, certified teacher in our network contacted me looking for a new position. Three months later, the same teacher came back – still looking.

Meanwhile, school HR teams and internal recruiters have spoken to me about tighter budgets, changing business decisions and positions that remain difficult to fill. Yet the international-school sector is significantly larger than it was a decade ago.

So I went looking for the data.

Where has international education grown? Where has it shrunk?
And if the sector is growing, why can both teachers and schools still find recruitment challenging?

Here is what the numbers show:

1. International Schools: Growing Strongly

According to ISC Research, the global international-school sector grew significantly between July 2015 and July 2025

[Source: ISC Research — International Schools Market Data]

2. China’s Academic Tutoring Sector: Shrank Sharply

China moved in a very different direction. Following the 2021 “Double Reduction” reforms, China’s Ministry of Education reported that the number of academic subject-related tutoring companies fell by:

   Offline providers: ↓ 83.8%

   Online providers: ↓ 84.1%

[Source: Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China — “Double Reduction” implementation data“]

An important distinction: these figures cover academic tutoring affected by the reforms, particularly tutoring linked to compulsory education.

They do not mean that 84% of all English-language schools or English teaching jobs in China disappeared.

3. International ELT Study: Below Its Pre-Pandemic Peak

International English-language study tells a third story. According to BONARD’s Global ELT Annual Report 2025, across eight major English-language study destinations:

   2024 student numbers = 73% of 2019 levels

   2024 student weeks = 75% of 2019 levels

BONARD’s Global ELT Annual Report 2026 then reported a second consecutive year of decline:

   Student numbers ↓ 10%

   Student weeks ↓ 14%

BONARD also reports that rising tuition, accommodation and living costs are affecting where students study, whether they travel and how long they stay.

[Sources: BONARD — Global ELT Annual Report 2025 and Global ELT Annual Report 2026]

The Three Markets at a Glance

These datasets measure different markets. They do not prove that teachers or students simply moved from one sector to another.

What they do show is that different parts of international education have moved in very different directions.

So Why Can Recruitment Still Feel So Challenging?

This is the part the data does not fully explain. International schools grew 45% in number and 54% in staff over ten years.Yet I am still seeing qualified teachers who cannot find the right position.

At the same time, school recruiters tell me about tight budgets and roles that remain difficult to fill, with STEM and early childhood positions among the examples mentioned in recent conversations.

Both can be true. However, a growing market does not necessarily mean an easy match.

The match can depend on the subject, qualifications, experience, curriculum, location, salary, timing and what both sides are looking for.

Where Is the Water Flowing?

For teachers: Where are the opportunities, and what do those jobs require?

For schools: Which roles are difficult to fill, and how can we be better prepared to fill them?

For recruiters: Where are the gaps between the teachers looking for work and the roles schools need to fill?

Exploring Opportunities

For teachers considering teaching English in China, Gold Star TEFL Recruitment maintains a regularly updated job board of screened English teaching jobs in China, alongside resources on schools, locations, requirements and life abroad.

For schools, Gold Star works with education organisations recruiting international teachers and welcomes conversations about changing hiring needs and hard-to-fill roles.

Find out more about hiring English teachers from us here.

About the Author: Christine Lu

Christine is a Business Development Manager at Gold Star TEFL Recruitment. She first joined Gold Star in 2015 and spent four years working in international teacher recruitment before moving to Australia, where she spent about two years in recruitment. She has since worked in the English-language education sector with the British Council and recruited remotely for companies in the US and Taiwan, before re-joining Gold Star in 2026.