Bully Stoppers: survey tool

A practical resource to assist schools to work with their community to better respond to and prevent bullying.

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The survey tool contains a range of survey templates for teachers, students and parents/carers.  

These are available to support principals, leaders and teachers gain an insight into the experiences and opinions of their school community about safety and wellbeing, including bullying in the school environment. There are surveys for students, teachers and parents/carers.

Fully interactive and accessible survey templates in PDF or word format are available on this page.

How to send the survey to participants and collect data

  • Option 1: Share the interactive PDF or word accessible versions with participants via email or your school’s file sharing platform (e.g Google Docs). Collate the data using a data analysis tool (e.g Excel)
  • Option 2: Download interactive PDF or word accessible versions and input them into your school’s preferred online survey tool. Use the tool to collate data
  • Option 3: Print survey for participants and manually enter data using your preferred data analysis tool (e.g Excel).

When is it a good time to administer the surveys?

Administering the surveys at regular points across the year will assist you to gain insight into your school’s climate and efforts to prevent and address bullying.

You may also consider administering the surveys:

  • in response to an incident or a number of incidents of bullying
  • when reviewing policies and programs
  • when deciding which items to purchase from the Schools Mental Health Menu.

Results

It is anticipated that schools review, analyse and share the results, in conjunction with other relevant school data (e.g. Attitudes to School Survey).

Schools will be able to reflect upon their current state of play including community perspectives on bullying; the school's perceived ability to effectively prevent, manage and respond when issues/incidents arise; and identify any further work that could be done to improve the current school environment and bullying prevention policies.

Who can complete the surveys?

The school leadership team can decide who will complete the surveys. Options include, but are not limited to:

  • a working group of 6-8 members (e.g. staff members, parents, students)
  • the leadership team
  • all staff members, students and parents (e.g. each person completes a hardcopy of the survey and a team coordinate and key the responses into the tool). 

Advice for administering the student survey

  • Consider how to best administer the survey for younger students (e.g send home to be completed with parents/carers)
  • Consider what time of day would best suit students
  • Meet with teachers administering the survey to discuss its purpose and how data will be used. Provide them with a script to share with students if needed
  • Ensure students understand the purpose of the survey and the definitions of bullying
  • Schedule a time to go back to students to discuss and share the results of the survey.

Advice for administering the teacher survey

  • Ensure teachers understand the purpose of the survey and how data will be used to review and/or improve policies and programs
  • Schedule a time to discuss and share the results of the survey with staff.

Advice for administering the parent/carer survey 

  • Consider if you need to organise for the survey translated
  • Ensure parents/carers understand the purpose of the survey and how data will be used to review and or improve policies and programs
  • Schedule a time to discuss and share the results with school council if appropriate and/or a parent/carer focus group.

Discussion and reporting

The survey results could be used to inform:

  • a guided discussion amongst staff (e.g. a whole school staff meeting or staff from a particular year level)
  • identification of cohorts that need additional support in relation to bullying 
  • a focus on a particular year level or geographic area
  • whole-school strategic plans and policies
  • decisions about staff professional learning
  • programs and services to be implemented (e.g. strengthening the focus on upstander behaviour).

Survey templates