Attitude to Schools Survey Frequently Asked Questions

When does the 2009 Attitudes to School Survey take place?

The 2009 Attitudes to School Survey will be conducted in schools over the period Monday 27 April 2009 to Thursday 8 May 2009. Commencing on Monday 20 April, the week prior to the survey period, survey questionnaires will be posted to schools.

What if our school has already done another student survey this year?

Other surveys available to schools may or may not significantly overlap with the Attitudes to School Survey. If your school has already done another student survey this year, you will need to make a local decision about whether you want to also administer the Attitudes to School Survey. Schools that conduct the Attitudes to School Survey annually build up trend data that enables them to undertake more in-depth analysis on levels of student engagement over time.

How will the survey be administered in multi-campus schools?

Multi-campus schools have the option to have their survey results reported at the campus level as well as at the school level, or to have their survey results reported at the school level only:

• Multi-campus schools that have requested campus reporting in previous years will continue to receive campus reports as well as school report in the current year survey. 
• Multi-campus schools that wish to have their survey results reported at campus level, as well as at school level, for the first time in the current year survey are required to inform the Data, Outcomes and Evaluation Division of their request for campus reporting.  For details, please refer to circular S070-2009 Attitudes to School Survey.
• All other multi-campus schools will be assumed to continue with reporting at school level only for the current year survey

Multi-campus schools that have opted for reporting at the campus level will have the blank survey questionnaires sent to each of their campuses. Each of these campuses is uniquely identified for the survey process and is responsible for returning its completed survey questionnaires in separate packages to the contractor.

Multi-campus schools that have opted for reporting at the school level will have the blank survey questionnaires sent to the school's Administrative Campus. The Administrative Campus should arrange for the survey questionnaires to be distributed to the other campus(es) and to be collected upon completion. The Administrative Campus should then return all completed survey questionnaires to the contractor in the one package. 

Do schools need to inform parents about the 2009 Attitudes to School Survey?

Many schools find it useful to include a short item in their newsletter to parents about the upcoming Attitudes to School survey. The following text is offered as a suggestion:

WE WANT OUR STUDENTS TO TELL US WHAT THEY THINK! Our school is conducting a survey to find out what your child thinks of our school. The Attitudes to School survey is an annual student survey for Year 5 to Year 12 students offered by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to assist schools in gaining an understanding of students' perceptions and experience of school. Our school will use the survey results to plan programs and activities to improve your child's schooling experience.

This is the sixth year that the survey has been offered. Students from <<School inserts year levels as applicable - Year 5 to Year 12, Year 5 and 6, Year 7 to 12 etc>> at our school will participate in the survey. All responses to the survey are anonymous. This year the Attitudes to School survey will be conducted at our school over the period Monday 27 April to Friday 8 May. The survey only takes 20-30 minutes to complete and occurs during your child's class time.

The survey results will be reported back to the school at the end of July. <<School may inform that the survey results will be communicated to parents through annual reporting or by some other means.>> . Last year we used the survey results to plan <<school can insert initiatives that link back to main messages from the 2008 survey>>

Please speak to your child’s teacher if you would like more information.

What happens when students are asked to answer the questions about all their teachers and they have different opinions about individual teachers?

Experience of this and other surveys suggests that students in Years 5 - 12 are able to realistically generalise in forming an opinion about a group of teachers, in the same way that parents do when they respond to the parent opinion survey and staff do in the staff opinion survey. As the data is not intended for discussion relating to individual teacher performance the fact that it is generalised is not a disadvantage.

What happens if a school has only one teacher per year level, in which case, the year level survey results will be applicable to particular teachers?

In general the survey results will be reported back to schools by year level as well as by school level. However, if a school is concerned about issues of confidentiality, then it may request that the results be reported back to school by school level only. Schools will have an opportunity to make this request when the questionnaires are returned to the contractor.

How do I access my school's Attitudes to School Survey results?

For participating schools, reports summarising your school's data are available via School Performance Reports, then click on the link labelled "Download School Performance Reports (Principal's edumail login and password required)". For the 2009 Attitudes to School Survey, school reports on the survey results will be made available from Friday 31 July.

What can schools do with these data?

Schools can use the data in a number of ways, to:

• monitor levels of student engagement, especially in relation to the effectiveness of middle years projects
• compare school level data on engagement with state-wide benchmarks
• stimulate discussion within the school community about how to improve engagement
• assist in the identification of areas for improvement and professional development needs in the school.

What will the Department do with the data?

The Department will be able to aggregate all the school data and develop a state-wide picture of student engagement, to be used in monitoring the impact of middle years initiatives. Over time it will be possible to discern improvements trends.

Will the data be made public?

No individual school data will be published. Aggregated state-wide data will be used to report on middle years initiatives and may also be used in public discussion of issues relating to student engagement.

What information is available to assist in the interpretation of the survey data?

Information to assist in the interpretation of the survey data is provided at the end of the each school’s survey report