Education Survey & Research Service
The Parent Survey
The standard parent survey consists of 30 tick-box questions and a comments box. All parents are invited to complete it online. The surveys focus on parents’/carers’ views about their child’s (primary or secondary) school and schooling; their experience of access to and contact with the school, their perception of the teachers, the quality of communication between school and parents, the school’s curriculum and standards, and the way in which the school caters for pupils’ academic and pastoral needs.
Methodology
The parent survey is usually completed online. In this instance, schools are provided with a bespoke link to distribute to parents. Alternatively the survey can be completed in paper format, where EdSRS provide all parent questionnaires and guidance notes to schools. The schools then distribute the questionnaires to their parents. Parents are asked to return the questionnaires to school who then send all completed questionnaires to Keele for analysis.
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I hope that the school will take this information into account and are able to make some suitable changes. (Y7 parent)
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I think this questionnaire is very helpful because I can start to think deeper about things that I would have never thought about before. (Y10 parent)
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Some of the questions I had to answer ‘unsure’ for highlighted to me how much more information I would like and need. (Y8 parent)
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Thank you for this, I feel this is very important for this type of questionnaire to be done. (Y12 parent)
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Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback. I firmly believe that our children’s education is a joint responsibility between ourselves and the school. (Y8 parent)
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Thank you for giving parents the opportunity to comment via this well-constructed questionnaire. (Y12 parent)
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The standard parent questionnaire covers the following broad areas which impact upon the quality of the child’s experience:
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- The school and its standards
- Communication between school and parents
- The relationship between parents and teachers
- The quality of children’s experience in school
- The effectiveness of teachers
- The well-being of the child
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The paper questionnaire consists of a double-sided A4 sheet with tick boxes for each question and a comments box. The online version consists of the same 30 questions and a comments box.
Outcomes
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Schools are provided with a full survey report containing an executive summary, a written report, and an analysis of questions (tabulated by the child’s school year group). Schools are also provided with data in diagrammatic form and (where possible) longitudinal data in tabulated form, together with a written transcript of comments made by parents in the "free expression" section of the questionnaire. Finally, the report contains summaries of the school's findings, providing comparisons (where available) with previous Keele surveys at the school.