Scottish Government

Annex III: Pupil, teacher and parent questionnaires

III.1 The pupil questionnaires

Four versions of the pupil questionnaire were developed for the 2006 survey and these were used across all four stages with some very slight modifications in the language used for the younger pupils. Its aim was to explore the experience of, and views on, their education of pupils within a Social Subjects context.

Sections common to all versions enquired about pupils' learning resources at home, their views of lesson activities, and their attitudes to lessons on Social Subjects.

Version 1 of the questionnaire also included enquiries into pupils' activities outside school. Version 2 investigated their after school activities and job aspirations. Version 3 enquired into their perceptions of the value of Social Subjects to various occupations, while version 4 investigated their topic knowledge and their self-assessment of ability in Social Subjects.

To access views on Social Subjects, primary pupils were asked about their topic work, and S2 pupils were asked about Social Subjects based on their classes in either History, Geography, or Modern Studies.

The various versions were randomly allocated to pupils in the survey sample in such a way that each would be responded to by a representative sample of pupils.

The numbers of questionnaires that were completed by pupils are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 : Number of pupil questionnaire returned, by version and stage

III.2 The teacher questionnaire

A single teacher questionnaire was completed by class teachers at P3, P5, and P7, and by teachers of Social Subjects at S2. Slight modifications were made to reflect different structures in Primary and Secondary schools. Its aim was to explore the circumstances and nature of teaching and learning in Social Subjects at these stages.

To access views on Social Subjects, primary school teachers were asked about their views in the context of Social Subjects and teachers of S2 pupils were asked about Social Subjects based on their classes in either History, Geography, Modern Studies, or Social Subjects. S2 teachers were asked which of these subjects their responses were based on.

The questionnaire comprised four sections. Section 1 requested information about the teacher's length of teaching experience, time in current post, time spent per week on teaching and preparation, and professional development opportunities. Section 2 explored teachers' views about pupils' lesson attendance, learning motivation and behaviour in class, teachers' use of national assessments, and their use of formative assessments and personal learning planning. Section 3 investigated the nature of the teacher's Social Subjects lessons by asking how often pupils were engaged in various different activities. Answer options ranged from "during most lessons" to "once a year or less". Section 4 looked at resources for teaching, inviting teachers to indicate how often they used each type of resource in their teaching, using the same frequency categories as for lesson activities.

The number of questionnaires completed by teachers at each stage is shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Number of teacher questionnaire returned, by stage taught

III.3 Parent Questionnaire

A questionnaire and covering letter were sent to every school with P3 pupils selected for the 2006 SSA, with a request that both be forwarded by the school to the parent(s) of every P3 pupils selected to participate in the survey. Parents were asked about their child's experience of pre- and primary school. In total, 8,190 copies of the questionnaire were delivered to P3 parents of which 4,041 were returned.