Contact: John Clarke, Deputy County Education Officer, County Office
Tel 01962 846459 email [email protected] or

Chris Wilson, Senior Inspector/Adviser (Strategic Management), County Office
Tel 01962 846517 email [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report sets out the results of the pupil attitude survey carried out with over 26,000 pupils in primary and secondary schools. The responses are compared with those obtained in the survey of pupil attitudes carried out in the previous three years. There is a marked level of consistency between the results of the last three years' surveys and this year's. This is reassuring and suggests these results are a trustworthy basis from which to plan improvements. Questions on computer use and access to the internet now show that eight out of ten pupils in the year groups surveyed have access to computers and six out of ten have access to the internet. It is recommended that the survey should continue to be undertaken each year and key indicators reported to this Committee to measure success in raising pupils' expectations of their education. This paper supports Aim 1 of the Corporate Strategy (Maximising life opportunities) by reporting on matters likely to impact upon an improvement in the quality of life for Hampshire people.

2 Background

2.1 The pupil attitude survey was carried out for the first time in 2000. 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 as in 2002.

2.2 Completed forms were received for 6751 Year 2 pupils (48.1% of the year group in the county), 7865 Year 6 pupils (52.8% sample), 6020 Year 7 pupils (41.8% sample) and 5656 Year 9 pupils (39.8% sample), a total of 26,292 pupils (45.7% sample of all pupils in these year groups). This was a decrease of 7% compared with 2002. Pupils in 244 primary and 41 secondary schools provided data, a reduction of 33 schools compared with the previous 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 shows 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, for example end of key stage assessments and external examinations. The attitude of pupils towards their learning contributes to their levels of attainment. Improving attitudes towards school should lead to higher levels of attainment. In 2000, 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 A form pre-populated with school information 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 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.

3.3 In all year groups there were some responses that did not indicate whether it was a boy or a girl completing the form. Therefore the total responses for boys and girls do not add to the overall total. The balance between the proportion of boys and girls responding should be kept in mind when considering 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 question 5 about their attitude to their teacher.

3.5 Overall there is a marked level of consistency between the results of the last three years' surveys and this year's. This is reassuring. It does therefore appear that the survey is providing information that can be relied upon. However, it will be the developing trends over the four years 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 plus or minus 2% points between responses in 2002 and 2003, that is, changes that are likely to be significant. Smaller changes could be the result of sampling error and random effects.

4 Overall attitudes to school

Year 2

· Fewer boys and girls always enjoyed being at school and one in ten boys say they never enjoy school, a figure that has stayed at the same level for the past three years.

· Many more boys than girls say they always do their best at school.

Years 6, 7 and 9

· Overall there appears to be a less positive attitude to school by girls, compared with last year's survey and nearly as many pupils in Year 2 as in Year 9 now say they never enjoy school.

· More girls in Years 6, 7 and 9 say they do their best most of the time rather than always.

· More boys in Year 6 and Year 9 are more positive about school.

· In Year 7, the girls' strength of feeling about enjoying school has lessened and more girls often rather than always get to do something they are good at.

5 Attitudes to work

Year 2

Fewer boys and girls say they always have work to do at home.

Years 6, 7 and 9

· In Year 6, fewer pupils now say they are always set homework, but there is a wide range of responses from across the range of schools.

· In Years 7 and 9, fewer girls are always set homework and in Year 7, more boys say they are now always set homework.

· More pupils in Year 7 than in Years 6 and 9 say they are always set homework.

· More girls in Year 7 now say their work is just about right for them, indicating an improved match of challenge to the ability of these pupils.

6 Attitude to teachers

Year 2

More boys say their teacher always tells them how to make their work better

Years 6, 7 and 9

· In Year 6, fewer girls think their teachers are always fair and always tell them how to make their work better

· In Year 7, girls perceive their teachers to be fairer than boys do, compared with the Year 7 responses last year, and girls think teachers to be more helpful than boys do, although as in previous years, more boys than girls say their teachers always tell them how to make their work better.

7 Classroom methods

The responses in this section are similar to those in previous years, but in Year 9 there is more involvement of girls in questions in class and more girls are more positive about answering.

8 Access to computers at home

8.1 Pupils in Years 2,6,7 and 9, were asked about their access to computers at home and their use of these facilities for homework. There was no difference in any of the older age groups in the boys' and girls' responses to the availability of a personal computer at home, although slightly fewer Year 2 pupils had access to a personal computer. However, in all year groups more girls than boys said they used it for homework. In each age group more boys than girls said they had access to the internet, although again slightly more girls said they used it for homework. In all cases the variations are small and gender does not appear to be particularly significant in pupils' access to, and use of, computer facilities at home, with at least nine out of ten pupils in Years 6, 7 and 9 having access to a personal computer 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.

9 Analysis by districts

9.1 In 2002 and this year, a further analysis has been undertaken, breaking the results of the survey down by district council area. Although the size of the sample of responses in any one area needs to be taken into account, as does the number of responding schools for any year group, both the previous and this years' results show wide variations between areas in the responses for each question for each year group. For example, computer access is highest for Year 2 pupils in East Hampshire, lowest in Rushmoor but computer use for school work for Year 2 is greatest in Gosport but least in Winchester City. With only two years' worth of district level analysis, trends are uncertain, but such information may be helpful to the LEA in determining the local focus for school improvement initiatives in future.

10 Conclusions

10.1 The survey has established itself as a reliable indicator of pupil attitudes.

10.2 It is proposed that further surveys should be undertaken.

Recommendations

1 That the report be noted.

Section 100D Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB The list excludes:

1 Published works

2 Documents which disclosed exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act

None