You asked
I am submitting a freedom of information request for COVID-19 deaths of teachers by gender and age compared with other professions. I am particularly interested in the period 1st September 2020 to January 4th, 2021, because that was the period that schools were fully open.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
This information can be found in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) related deaths by occupation, England and Wales: deaths registered between 9 March and 28 December 2020. Please also see the dataset accompanying this report.
Occupation was defined using the Standard Occupational Classification 2010 (SOC 2010).
Within the above report, you may find:
- Figure three shows male deaths involving COVID-19 by occupation
- Figure four shows female deaths involving COVID-19 by occupation
- Figure six shows COVID-19 deaths in teaching and educational professionals.
There were 139 deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) in teaching and educational professionals aged 20 to 64 years registered between 9 March and 28 December 2020 in England and Wales. For both sexes, rates of death involving COVID-19 for this group were statistically significantly lower than the rate of death involving COVID-19 among those of the same age and sex, with 18.4 deaths per 100,000 males (66 deaths) and 9.8 deaths per 100,000 females (73 deaths), compared with 31.4 and 16.8 deaths per 100,000 in the population among males and females respectively.
Of the individual occupations, it was only possible to calculate a reliable rate for secondary education teaching professionals, who accounted for 37.4% of the total number of deaths among all teaching and educational professionals (52 deaths). With 39.2 deaths per 100,000 males (29 deaths) and 21.2 deaths per 100,000 females (23 deaths), rates of death involving COVID-19 in secondary education teaching professionals were not statistically significantly different than those of the same age and sex in the wider population.
We also compared the teaching occupations with all other professional occupations, allowing us to see how the deaths compare with professions with similar broad economic and educational backgrounds. We found that rates of death involving COVID-19 in all teaching and educational professionals were not statistically significantly different to the rates seen in professional occupations (17.6 deaths per 100,000 males; 12.8 deaths per 100,000 females) as a whole, true for both sexes. Of the specific teaching and education professions, the rate of death involving COVID-19 in male secondary education teaching professionals was statistically significantly higher than the rate of death involving COVID-19 in professional occupations in men of the same age.
When trying to understand rates of coronavirus (COVID-19)-related deaths by occupation, it is likely that there will be many complex factors. Our previous release provided information on a range of factors - including likelihood of exposure to the virus, where people live, and ethnic distribution by occupation - that may be associated with the deaths described in this bulletin. A further report also described the possible impact of lockdown on rates of death involving COVID-19 by occupation. Public Health England have reported a wide range of factors associated with COVID-19 more generally.
Further analysis providing data from 28 December to 5 January 2021 would need to be created as bespoke analysis. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information in order to respond to requests. We therefore consider this to be information not held.
For further information, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk