A quarter of Year 11 students who are due to sit GCSE examinations this summer were not in school on the first strike day of the term.
FFT Education Datalab figures shared with Tes reveal that 75 per cent of Year 11 students were in school on 27 April.
And, on average, just a quarter of students across secondary schools were marked as attending (26 per cent) on 27 April, compared to 66 per cent of primary pupils.
Teachers in the NEU teaching union across England were on strike on Thursday 27 April and 2 May in an ongoing dispute over pay. The latest NEU strike comes after all four of the main education unions’ members rejected the government teacher pay offer.
According to Department for Education data, more than half of schools across England were fully or partly closed as teachers walked out on strike last week.
What does data reveal about how year groups were affected?
Figures from schools using the FFT Education Datalab’s Attendance Tracker show 75 per cent of Year 11 students were in school on 27 April, compared to 88 per cent the previous Thursday when there was no strike day.
However, just 10 per cent of Year 8 pupils were in school on 27 April, compared to 91 per cent the previous week.
Overall, primary pupil attendance on the first strike day of the summer term was far higher than secondary attendance.
Combining Reception through to Year 6, on average, two-thirds (66 per cent) of pupils were in school on 27 April, compared to 94 per cent on a non-strike day the previous week.
Attendance was highest across both primary and secondary settings for Year 6 pupils who are due to take key stage 2 Sats assessments next week. In this year group, 79 per cent of these pupils were in schools, according to the FFT data.
Attendance was lowest for Year groups 7, 8 and 9 on 27 April with just 14, 10 and 11 per cent marked as attending respectively.
The NEU is expected to hold three more strike days in June or July after the exam season has finished.
All four education unions are expected to ballot members for strike action this term after rejecting the government pay offer.
A Tes investigation last month revealed fears over the plan to return GCSE grade standards to pre-pandemic levels with exam student absence still 75 per cent higher than before the Covid lockdowns.
