The Pupil Questionnaire

Analysing the Pupil QuestionnaireThe pupil questionnaire was developed to engage young people in a range of e-Democracy projects with a view to increasing their awareness of and their involvement with their local council and their local community.

Overview

The Lewisham e-Democracy Pupil Questionnaire is web based and is accessible via the Sage Educational Trust web site: www.sageeducationaltrust.org/edemocracy. Year 6 pupils from two primary schools devised the questionnaire which aimed to find out what children know about Lewisham Council and what issues concern and interest them.

Years 5, 6 and 7 pupils from 15 local schools were invited to complete the questionnaire online. The responses were analysed and a number of follow on activities were developed.

What did the project aim to achieve?

The project aimed to:

Developing the questionnaire

A questionnaire was used as the starting point for the project as it directly involved pupils right from outset. A Leading ICT teacher from a school within the Sage Educational Trust was seconded to work with two Year 6 classes in different schools to develop the questionnaire. She prepared materials to share with the first class to give them an idea of what was expected. The class drafted some questions and then discussed which of these questions was suitable to include in the questionnaire. This provoked a lively debate and, eventually a number of questions were agreed upon.

You can download the draft questionnaire in Word format (79KB)

The list of questions was then shown to a class in another school. They were given the opportunity to consider the questions and decide which ones should be modified or deleted and after that to add some questions of their own. This proved to be valuable in helping to refine and focus the direction of the questionnaire.

The finished draft was then given to another Year 6 class in another school. They were asked to fill out the questionnaire and suggest any changes. This was a very worthwhile exercise as it was clear that pupils didn't always understand the wording of several questions. The questions were further refined and, eventually, a final draft was produced. This was posted on the web site: www.sageeducationaltrust.org/edemocracy

The questionnaire could easily be modified to suit projects based within individual schools/clusters of schools/councils in different geographical areas. It can also be used as a basis for discussion if schools/councils wish to develop their own questionnaires

A text version of the questionnaire was posted on the site as well as the interactive version. This is to allow pupils to work away from the computers and to take their time in writing thoughtful responses which can then be transcribed onto the interactive form.

Getting schools involved

Schools were circulated at the planning stage of the project and asked how they would like to be involved. Several schools volunteered to be involved with the development of the questionnaire. However a number of schools did not reply at all. In order to engage these schools a competition was held, they were invited to send in electronic art work that could be included in the online version of the questionnaire. A small prize (a £5 Smiths voucher) was offered to every child in the class that submitted the best portfolio of relevant art work.

The art gallery can be seen at: www.sageeducationaltrust.org/edemocracy/gallery

The art competition was a limited success in that it only attracted entries from schools that had previously indicated their willingness to be involved. However it did raise the profile of the project as it gave an opportunity to contact all schools again with details of the competition.

A curriculum pack of resources was developed by a group of teachers. This was sent to schools and also posted on the web site. Flyers and e-mails were sent to schools reminding them of the dates when the questionnaire would be live. The resources are available at : www.sageeducationaltrust.org/edemocracy/resources

Classes from 15 schools responded – Years 5, 6 and 7 were represented.

Developing the Pupil Questionnaire

Analysing the responses

694 pupils from 15 schools completed the online questionnaire by the closing date. An additional 54 pupils completed the form after the closing date – too late to be included in the analysis.

The interactive form was set up so that responses were automatically dropped into a database on the web server. Each questionnaire had 35 questions, many of which were open ended. A deliberate decision was made to allow for open ended questions as it was felt that this was the only way to capture the real opinions of the children involved. However, this makes analysing the questionnaire a very difficult task. Professional help was sought with this task and the response database was sent, electronically, for analysis.

The detailed analysis provided a breakdown of responses by individual schools as well as the total responses. A CD containing an accessible version of the analysis plus all the supporting documents was sent to all participating schools so that the data could be used as a curriculum resource. CDs were also sent to the Mayor and Cabinet, local Councillors, the local MP and LEA officers so that they could be kept informed about the project.

A web version of the analysis was also posted on the web site at: www.sageeducationaltrust.org.uk/edemocracy The full version of the database and analysis have not been posted online. These can be made available to educational institutions on request.

Follow up curriculum activities

A Year 5 class worked with the Leading ICT Teacher to graph some of the results from the analysis. They were given the results in spreadsheet form and taught how to make the graphs using the data. This meets curriculum requirements for Unit 6B of the National Curriculum. The graphs were posted on the web site.

The class were only able to produce graphs for the questions with simple results as much of the data returned on the analysis was very complex. However the pupils were working from real statistics and this made the task more meaningful.

Classes in two schools were invited to develop materials on two topics that children had identified in the questionnaire as important to them. One Year 6 class worked on identifying learning styles within their school. They researched learning styles and then created a simple database which they tested within the class. Once they had refined this they set out to interview every child in the school and to record the relevant information. The class produced a database of learning styles and graphed some of the results.

Another Year 6 class followed up on an area of concern to a significant proportion of the respondents – bullying. They wrote poems and produced art work. They then decided to write and film short plays. The class teacher attended a one day training course on how to support pupils making videos and the filming began.

Analysing the Pupil Questionnaire

Pupils adapted their scripts into storyboards and started to film using video cameras and laptops funded by the eDemocracy project. They edited the films themselves, extracts from an example can be seen on the Sage Educational Trust web site at: http://www.sageeducationaltrust.org.uk/edemocracy

The Mayor of Lewisham took part in a live webcast that was streamed to all the schools that responded to the questionnaire. Pupils were able to ask questions about a variety of topics and get an immediate response from the Mayor. This proved to be very motivating for pupils and had the unexpected outcome of a pupil and his parents attending a Ward visit by the Mayor two weeks later. The pupil attended because he’d seen the Mayor on the webcast and believed that he would listen to a request for some waste ground to be used as a football pitch by local children.

Bridget Prentice, MP, offered to facilitate a visit to the House of Commons for a group of children from across the schools. The trip has not yet taken place.

Conclusions

The project involved large numbers of pupils with many of them directly involved in developing the questionnaire. Pupils have gained a better understanding of how the local Council works. They have raised awareness of local government and local democratic decision making and contact with local members has helped them to see that their individual views matter.

Schools were positively engaged and willing to further investigate issues and concerns raised by the questionnaire. Many have indicated that they wish to continue the eDemocracy work after the life of the project and that some of the activities undertaken will be embedded in their curriculum.

Local Councillors and Members have been given a unique opportunity to find out the views of local children and have gained a clearer understanding of the issues that concern them. They have been keen to be involved and have made local government ‘come alive’ to the pupils.

The project used the technology to good effect – many parts of the project would have been impossible without it.

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local e-Democracy National Project

The Sage eDemocracy Project is part of The local e-Democracy National Project