Oak usage during teacher strikes double last year’s Omicron peak

More than 280,000 pupils used Oak National Academy during the first day of teacher strikes – twice as many as during the Covid-peak last year.

Government figures estimate 54 per cent of schools were closed or partially closed yesterday because of teacher walk-outs over pay.

Figures supplied by Oak show 282,280 pupils used the platform – which is now controversially an arms-length government body.

This is 17 times more than the average daily pupil figure in January (16,615 pupils per day). It is twice as much as Oak’s daily peak in 2022 due to the Omicron Covid-variant (130,545).

In total, 886,605 lessons were taken yesterday – taking the total lessons this academic year up to 4.3 million. Oak said this means 20 per cent of lessons were started yesterday.

There was a shift towards secondary lessons. In January, 61 per cent of lessons were in key stage 3 and 4, but yesterday this was 83 per cent. More secondary schools closed yesterday.

Lessons also shifted away from London. Prior to yesterday, 27 per cent of all lessons were taken in the capital, but during the strike this was only 18 per cent.

The largest increase was in the north west and East Midlands. The north east had the lowest take-up of 2 per cent.

The next strikes are scheduled for February 28.