Teachers are being told to teach remotely in empty classrooms or attend meetings that could happen online, a union has warned - as figures estimate the proportion of teachers in school this term is three times what it was in the first lockdown.

The latest official figures show that half of primary school teachers are still going into their schools, and overall, across all school settings, a total of 39 per cent of teachers and school leaders are still going into work.

This compares with figures released last April, which show that only around 59,000 teachers were in school three weeks into the first lockdown, which is around 13 per cent of the workforce, according to the latest official Department for Education workforce census. 

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Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said: ‘We still regularly hear of schools expecting staff to teach remotely in empty classrooms or attend meetings which could happen online.

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“Government guidance says that people should work from home unless absolutely necessary to be in work. This message needs to be adhered to in schools and colleges as much as in other workplaces.”

The DfE figures also show that around 24 per cent of teachers and school leaders in secondary schools were working on-site last week, while in special schools the figure was 62 per cent.

Around 51 per cent of “teaching assistants and other staff” were working on-site in open settings last week, including 57 per cent in primary schools, 36 per cent in secondary schools and 58 per cent in special schools.

The DfE has been contacted for comment.