Contact: John Clarke, Deputy Director of Children's Services, Tel 01962 846459 [email protected]; or Chris Wilson, County Services Manager (Strategy), Tel 01962 846517 [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 This report sets out the results of the pupil attitude survey carried out with 36,580 pupils in primary and secondary schools and explains the differences between this survey and the one conducted by Ofsted, the Tellus survey.

1.2 The responses to the pupil attitude survey are compared with those obtained in the survey of pupil attitudes carried out in the previous seven years. There is a marked level of consistency between the results of the past years' surveys and this year's. This is reassuring and suggests these results are a trustworthy basis from which to plan improvements. For the second time, the survey was offered to, and adapted for, pupils in special schools, as a pilot. Whilst most pupils in Years 2, 6 and 7 are positive about their education, the feelings are more mixed in Year 9, although still positive. The challenge of work in Years 6, 7 and 9 appears to have increased and the gap between boys' and girls' perceptions has narrowed. Again this year, the survey asked about pupils' experiences of bullying and racial abuse in and out of school. The results suggest that they have not improved from 2006 and continue to suggest many more pupils perceive this happening to them than most schools suppose.

1.3 The proposals in this report are expected to contribute to schools working in support of the County Council's corporate priorities.

1.4 It also supports the following outcomes of the Children Act

_ Staying safe

_ Enjoying and achieving

_ Being healthy

2 Recommendations

That the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education)

a) endorses the continuation of the pupil attitude survey and that key indicators are reported as part of the evaluation of the CYPP to measure success in raising pupils' expectations of their education

b) endorses the recommendation that participating schools are encouraged to take part in the Tellus survey

c) endorses the recommendation that discussions are held with headteachers about incorporating some of the elements from the Tellus survey into the pupil attitude survey in 2008.

3 Background

3.1 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. Many of the same questions were asked as in the previous years. For the second year, the questions were adapted and offered to all special schools, as part of a pilot survey. Because of the wide range of special needs of pupils in special schools, comparative information has only been summarised at the request of special school headteachers, for schools' use and has not been reported more widely.

3.2 Completed forms were received from 10,198 Year 2 pupils (76.2% of the year group in the county), 9916 Year 6 pupils (70.4% sample), 8297 Year 7 pupils (61.3% sample) and 8169 Year 9 pupils (58.1% sample), a total of 36,580 pupils (66.48% sample of all pupils in these year groups). This was an increase of 1.4% compared with 2006. Pupils in 355 primary and 54 secondary schools provided data, a decrease of three schools compared with the previous year. Of the pupils in special schools, 260 from the full range of special needs took part from 12 schools, an increase in four schools compared with the previous year.

3.3 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.

3.4 One of the purposes of the survey was to collect data on pupils in Hampshire schools that was not focused on pupil outcomes alone, for example end of key stage assessments and external examinations, but on others of the five outcomes required by the Children Act 2004. The attitude of pupils towards their learning contributes to their levels of attainment and towards their enjoying and achieving. 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 can be used by schools as evidence to support their own self-evaluation against the five outcomes. The pupils taking part in the survey this year in Year 9 were part of the cohort who took part as Year 2 in the first survey and therefore evidence of the changing attitudes to education of these pupils becomes possible. Ensuring that schools, parents and carers all work together to encourage positive attitudes by children towards school in pursuit of the outcomes of the Children Act remains a major challenge but the benefits for children's education and their well-being will be significant.

3.5 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. As last year, guidance was offered to teachers in all year groups about what might constitute bullying (see Appendix 3).

4 Results

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

4.2 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.

4.3 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 the overall response.

4.4 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.

4.5 Overall there is a marked level of consistency between the results of the last seven years' surveys and this year's. This is reassuring. It does therefore appear that the survey is providing information that can be relied upon. The developing trends over six years indicate increasingly positive attitudes by children at all survey ages.

4.6 The comments set out below are based on questions where there has been a variation of more than plus or minus two percentage points between response in 2006 and 2007: that is, changes that are likely to be meaningful. Smaller changes could be the result of sampling error and random effects.

4.7 However, where the percentage of responses is very small, as in the replies to questions about racial bullying and abuse, the numbers of actual pupils answering yes to these questions might be higher than in 2006, even if the percentage compared with the previous year is smaller because of increases in the sample size.

5 Overall attitudes to school

5.1 Year 2

5.1.1 The attitudes of Year 2 pupils to school overall continue to be positive, although the numbers saying they always enjoy school have reduced. More boys now say they always get to do something they are good at than in the previous year. The 6.5% of Year 2 boys, slightly up on 2006, who say they never enjoy being at school represent 337 boys across schools in the county who responded out of 438 children. Whilst these figures are lower than in the previous years, they still represent a significant minority of seven-year-olds who dislike school considerably. This year group is now in Year 3 in primary and junior schools.

5.2 Years 6, 7 and 9

5.2.1 In Year 6 the trend also continues to be positive overall in pupils' attitudes towards school, although boys are less positive than in 2006. Girls, however are more positive and more say they always do their best than in previous years' surveys.

5.2.2 In Year 7 there continues to be a generally positive trend overall with more boys and girls saying they always do their best. Fewer boys than in past years now say they never enjoy school and markedly more say they usually enjoy being at school although a higher proportion of both boys and girls say they have been bullied in school and out than in previous years.

5.2.3 In Year 9 there also continues to be a positive trend with more girls saying they usually enjoy school and always try their best. Boys, in contrast, are less positive with more saying they never enjoy school than in previous years.

6 Attitudes to work

6.1 Year 2

6.1.1 There is a continuing positive trend in pupils' attitudes to work in Year 2, with similar results compared with the previous year, although more girls find their work often too hard. For the fourth year running, the number of pupils who say they never have work to do at home has reduced and the number who now say they always have homework has markedly increased.

6.2 Years 6, 7 and 9

6.2.1 In all three year groups, more boys and girls say their work is sometimes too hard, which suggests that it is more challenging than in previous years. In both Year 6 and Year 7 more pupils say they are usually or always set homework, but in Year 9 fewer boys say they are regularly set homework. In Year 9 too, girls are more positive about the challenge of the work than boys, but more boys now find the work usually interesting.

7 Attitudes to teachers

7.1 Year 2

7.1.1 There continues to be a positive trend in Year 2 pupils' attitudes to teachers, nearly half agreeing that their teachers always tell them how to make their work better.

7.2 Years 6, 7 and 9

7.2.1 In Year 6, the trend is also positive, with more pupils, especially boys, saying their teacher is usually fair. Fewer pupils now say their teacher never tells them how to improve their work.

7.2.2. In Year 7 there continues to be a steady and positive trend in pupils' attitudes towards teachers, with more boys especially seeing their teachers as always fair.

7.2.3. In Year 9 pupils continue to be positive in their attitudes to teachers, with more perceiving their teachers to be always fair and always telling them how to improve their work.

8 Classroom methods

8.1 Years 6, 7 and 9

8.1.1 In Year 6 pupils continue to be positive about answering questions in class and being asked questions by teachers. In Year 7, boys are more positive and engaged than before with fewer saying they never answer questions in class and fewer saying they are only sometimes asked questions by their teachers. In Year 9, girls continue to be more positive about answering questions. More boys than girls also continue to say their teachers usually, rather than sometimes, ask them questions.

9 Bullying and racial abuse

9.1 For the third time, the survey asked questions about pupils' perceptions of being bullied or racially abused both in and out of school. The averages for these responses is given in Appendix 2. The maximum and minimum responses recorded continue to show a very wide variation of experience of bullying, or its absence, in the schools contributing to the survey. In some schools, no pupils felt they were bullied in Years 2 or 6 , in or out of school. In at least one school, all the girls in Year 2 felt they had been bullied as did all the boys in a different school. However, it must be borne in mind that the actual numbers might be very small, but is no less an issue for those few pupils.

9.2 The averages suggest that, in the twelve months up to June 2007, 2340 of the Year 6 pupils felt they had been bullied and 2273 from Year 7, an increase in both year groups compared with 2006; and 1576 from Year 9, a decrease. Nearly a third of all Year 2 pupils in the survey, said they had been picked on in school in the past year, a smaller proportion compared with the previous year but still a large number of children. The figures for bullying outside school are lower, but of a similar scale. Many schools, in their own self-evaluations, express confidence that incidents of bullying are few and dealt with appropriately and seriously. These figures continue to suggest that pupils' perceptions of what constitutes bullying may be at variance with the incidence recorded by schools. Although the trend is marginally lower in Years 2 and 9 in 2007, it has risen in Year 6 and, in Year 7 for the second year. Given the generally increased awareness of bullying in and out of schools, and the work undertaken, and reported in schools' self-evaluation to deal with bullies and to support those being bullied, the trend continues to be a concern.

9.3 Whilst the incidents of perceived racial abuse might seem very low, the numbers of pupils from black or minority ethnic backgrounds are also small. An interpretation of the responses of the survey of pupils' perceptions of racial abuse is that all these children have suffered such abuse sometime in the twelve months to June 2007. Figures are not collected about the proportion of pupils who belong to different faith groups.

9.4 Most pupils agreed that there was an adult in school to whom they could turn who would take action if they were to be bullied, with over 94% of Year 2 pupils agreeing and over 90% of Year 6 pupils. In secondary schools, 82% of Year 7 and 72% of Year 9 pupils agreed with this statement. These responses suggest that pupils recognise there are adults, not necessarily always teachers, who can offer active pastoral care if bullying occurs.

10 Staying healthy

10.1 In response to the item asking if their school always or usually helped them think about how to stay healthy by eating properly and taking exercise, the responses show a consistency with the replies given in 2006. In Year 2, 97% said yes, and in Year 6, 79% agreed. Of Year 7, 60% agreed as did 43% of Year 9, a slight improvement on the previous year. Both this rise and the sustained tend in other year groups is supportive evidence of the effect of the Healthy Schools' Award validation work undertaken by schools with the local authority.

11 Pupil voice

11.1 Again in 2007, all the year groups were asked if they thought their opinions had an influence over what happened in their schools. The replies are consistent with the previous years'. In Year 2, 94% again agreed, in Year 6 ,70%, in Year 7, 52% but in Year 9 only 41%. Again, in all year groups except Year 9, girls perceived their opinions to be more influential than boys'.

12 Analysis by districts

12.1 Since 2002 a further analysis has been undertaken, breaking the results of the survey down by district council area. The indication of trends will be particularly useful for estimating differences in approach and provision that might be needed across different localities in Hampshire, in response to the attitudes expressed by pupils to their schooling. This may be helpful to the LA in determining the local focus for school improvement initiatives in the future.

12.2 As the numbers of pupils in each year group in each district council vary considerably, care needs to be taken in making comparisons. Furthermore, in summarising only the views of pupils at the extremes in the survey, the balance of positive or negative attitudes might be overstated. A detailed analysis of responses for each of the District Councils has been made available to the District Managers (Education and Inclusion) and other interested groups.

13 The Tellus survey

13.1 A small sample of pupils in schools is selected annually by Ofsted to participate in the Tellus survey. These two surveys are for different purposes. The Tellus survey provides Ofsted with information about the views of children and young people and their lifestyles. The pupil attitude survey provides a little information that is the same but really concentrates on the quality of the school experience and how children and young people feel supported to achieve well. The Tellus responses are not reported to contributing schools; the pupil attitude survey has this as its prime intention.

13.2 There is little overlap between the sample selected for the Tellus survey and that selected by the pupil attitude survey . Only Year 6 is common to both. For the rest, the Tellus Survey samples Years 8 and 10 while the pupil attitude survey samples Year 2 (important for seeking the views of some of our youngest children), Year 7 and Year 9.

13.3 The sample size for the Tellus survey is not related to the size of the authority. It seeks to reach 1,300 children and young people in each authority in the country. This equates to approximately 0.75% of the Hampshire school population. The number of participants in the pupil attitude survey continues to rise.

13.4 However, the responses from the Tellus survey contribute to overall judgements made about the quality of the Children's Services in the county, through the Annual Performance Assessment. Encouraging schools to participate in the Tellus survey continues to be important to achieve a balanced external view of young people's opinions. Encouraging participation in the pupil attitude survey will help schools provide evidence for their own self-evaluation, as well as more detailed information about changing attitudes across all Hampshire's districts councils. It is recommended that discussions are held with headteachers, through their representative standing committees, to incorporate some of the elements from the Tellus survey into the pupil attitude survey, the better to feed back these perceptions to schools. It is also recommended that schools selected for participation in the Tellus survey are encouraged to take part.

14 Conclusions

14.1 The pupil attitude survey has established itself as a reliable indicator of pupil attitudes and will prove useful to schools in undertaking their own self-evaluation of attitudes and approach to school. Whilst the trend over the past years continues to be positive, the information about pupils' perceptions of being bullied or racially abused appears to run counter to the opinion schools themselves hold about such occurrences. The standards of education and care implied by the five outcomes of The Children Act suggest that all schools should be evaluating the attitudes of pupils, and especially how safe they feel in school and out. Much more still needs to be done in working with pupils to narrow the wide variation of experience across schools in different parts of the county . The involvement of pupils in their schools and the ways their opinions are listened to and acted on show wide variation across the county. As pupil voice is a principle underpinning the Children and Young People's Plan, more needs to be done to develop the work evidently successful in some schools.

14.2 It is proposed that further surveys should be undertaken and all schools strongly encouraged to participate, and that the usefulness of the survey to special schools evaluated with headteachers of those schools.

15 Legal implications

15.1 None.

16 Financial implications

16.1 The total annual cost to the department's budget of administering the pas, analysing its results and reporting those to schools and elected members is £8,000.

17 Personnel implications

17.1 None.

18 Impact assessment

18.1 Race and equality impact assessment has been considered in the development of this report and no adverse impact has been identified.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

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

None