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Contact: Mr Terry Rath, Education Officer. Tel: 01962 846457

1. Summary

1.1 This report sets out the results of the pupil attitude survey carried out with over 22,000 pupils in primary and secondary schools. The responses are compared with those obtained in the first large survey of pupil attitudes, carried out last year. It is recommended that the survey should be undertaken each year and key indicators reported to this Committee to measure success in raising pupils' expectations of their education.


2. Background

2.1. The pupil attitude survey was carried out for the first time last year. This year the same year groups, Years 2 and 6 in primary schools and Years 7 and 9 in secondary, were included in the survey. The same set of questions were asked. Some additional questions about the use and availability of personal computers at home, were included in the survey for Years 6,7 and 9 pupils. The results are given in paragraph 8.

2.2. Completed forms were received for 4,974 Year 2 pupils, 6,463 Year 6 pupils, 5,241 Year 7 pupils and 5,336 Year 9 pupils, a total of 22,014 pupils. The survey covered around a third of each year group. Pupils in 121 schools provided Year 2 data, 138 year 6 schools and 35 secondary schools returned Year 7 and 9 data. This is broadly the same as last year.

2.3. The year groups for the survey were chosen because Year 2 and Year 6 are respectively the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. It shows the attitude of pupils leaving these key stages. It would not be possible to undertake similar survey work with younger Key Stage 1 pupils. In secondary schools Year 7 was chosen because it showed the attitude of pupils in their first year in secondary school and could be compared with attitudes in Year 6 - the last year of primary school. Year 9 was chosen because it is the end of Key Stage 3 and shows pupil attitudes before they enter their GCSE courses.

2.4. One of the purposes of the survey was to collect data on pupils in Hampshire schools that was not focused on pupil outcomes, eg end of key stage assessments and external examinations. The attitude of pupils towards their learning contribute to their levels of attainment. Improving attitudes towards school should lead to higher levels of attainment. This survey was the first attempt to collect comparable pupil attitude information across the whole school system in Hampshire. It now forms a baseline against which changes can be assessed, and further school improvement initiatives planned and directed. Ensuring that schools, parents and carers all work together to encourage positive attitudes by children towards school will be a major challenge but the benefits for children's education will be significant.

2.5. Schools receive copies of their own results and the county data and are encouraged to analyse the variances to identify areas where they may need to focus activity to improve pupil attitude. This would include work with pupils and their parents. Guidance notes are provided.

2.6. A form with the same questions was used for Years 6, 7 and 9, but for Year 2 fewer questions were asked and the range of possible responses reduced. The guidance for Year 2 pupils also suggested that teachers could read the questions out to their children or work through the questions individually with pupils. In order to keep the burden of filling the questionnaires to a minimum, the number of questions was restricted to what could be easily and clearly fitted on two sides of A4 paper. It was estimated that most pupils could complete the questions in less than 15 minutes.

3. Results

3.1. Attached to this report as Appendix 1, are the preliminary results from the
questionnaires. There are data for each of the four year groups for all
pupils and these are also analysed separately for boys and girls.

3.2. As the questions for Year 2 pupils allowed fewer responses, three rather
than the four on the questionnaires for the other year groups, comparison
between the Year 2 responses and those for the other years has to be made
with care. With fewer responses available, more Year 2 pupils appear to
have chosen the most positive or most negative responses than in the other
year groups.


3.3. In all the year groups there were some responses that did not indicate whether it was a boy or girl completing the form. These responses have been included in the total for the year group. Therefore, the total responses for boys and girls do not add to the overall total. The balance between the number of boys and girls responding should be kept in mind when considering the overall response.

3.4. The questions asked of pupils in years 6,7 and 9 can be broken down into
four groups. Questions 1, 5 and 6 look at overall pupil attitudes, questions
3, 4, 7 and 10 at the pupils' attitudes to their work, questions 2 and 9 to the
attitude towards teachers and questions 8 and 11 to classroom methods.
The questions for year 2 pupils can be split into three groups. Questions
1,2 and 3 about overall attitudes, questions 4 and 6 about attitudes to work
and questions 5 about their attitude to their teacher.

3.5. Overall there is a marked level of consistency between the results of this
year's and last year's surveys. This is reassuring. If there had been large
variations it would have raised doubts about the wording of the questions
and the structure of the questionnaires. It does appear that the
questionnaire is providing information that can be relied upon. However, it
will be the emergence of trends that will be particularly useful.

3.6. The comments set out below are based on questions where there has been
a variation of more than + or - 2% points between responses in 2000 and 2001 i.e. changes that are likely to be significant. Smaller changes could be the result of sampling error and random effects.

3. Overall attitude to school

Year 2

· Fewer boys always enjoyed being at school or thought they always got to do something they were good at.

· Fewer girls also thought they had chances to do something they were good at but more always tried to do their best at schools.

Years 6,7 and 9

· Pupils in years 6 and 7 indicated that their level of enjoyment of school was similar to last year. However, in year 9 more boys felt they sometimes did not enjoy being at school.

· More year 6 pupils said they always, or most of the time did their best at school. This was particularly true of girls. But in year 7 more girls said they only sometimes did their best at school

· More year 6 girls thought they often got a chance to do something they were good at, while more year 9 boys thought this happened only sometimes.

5. Attitudes to Work

Year 2

· More year 2 pupils thought that their work was often too hard for them, but fewer thought they always had school work to do at home


Years 6,7 and 9

· More year 6 boys thought their work was usually boring. Girls in years 7 and 9 agreed.

· More year 6 pupils thought they usually or always received homework. More year 7 pupils, particularly girls, thought they only sometimes received, rather than usually received homework.

· More year 9 boys thought their work was sometimes too hard for them, but more year 7 and 9 girls thought their work sometimes too easy and in year 7 fewer thought their work about right.

6. Attitude to Teachers

Year 2

· More pupils thought their teachers often told them how to make their work better, particularly boys

Years 6,7 and 9

· In year 6 more pupils thought their teachers always or often told them how to make their work better. This was particularly so for girls.

· In year 9 more boys thought their teachers were sometimes not fair.

7. Classroom Methods

· Fewer year 6 boys said they always liked answering questions in class but more said they did not most of the time. More year 7 boys said they only sometimes liked answering questions. There was a similar response from both boys and girls in year 9. In year 9 fewer boys always liked answering questions in class.

· In year 6 more girls thought their teachers usually asked them questions in class, while in years 7 both boys and girls thought so.

8. Access to Computers at home

8.1. Pupils in years 6,7 and 9 were asked this year about their access to
computers at home and their use of these facilities for homework. There was no difference in any of the age groups in the boys and girls responses to the availability of a personal computer at home. However, in each age group more girls than boys said they used it for homework. However, in each age group more boys than girls said they had access to the internet, although boys and girls said their use of it for homework was broadly similar. In all cases the variations are small and gender does not appear to be particularly significant in pupils' access and use of computer facilities at home.

8.2. As with other data from the survey, schools will be able to make comparisons between the variations from their own averages and the average and range for the county.

8.3. Further work is being undertaken to analyse the pattern of response across schools and to relate them to other school and community indicators.

Recommendation


That the report be noted.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Papers

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