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Section D: Questionnaires
D.1 The main pupil questionnaires
Sixteen different principal pupil questionnaires were developed for use in the survey. Half of these were explicitly focused on English Language and half on mathematics, and half were designed for use at P3 only, the other half being intended for use with the older pupils (P5, P7 and S2). For the most part the questionnaires in the two subject areas included the same enquiries, worded appropriately for one or the other. Enquiries unique to the subject of the questionnaire were contained in two of the four questionnaires in each subject area at P3 and in one of those at the other stages. The questionnaires essentially gathered information about pupils' in-school and out-of-school activities and experiences, their views about subjects and subject learning. Each questionnaire took the form of a two-sided A4 page, presenting four sections of questions to pupils.
One common set of questions (see Figure D1) appeared as the first section in all versions of the questionnaire.
Figure D1
Set of questions common to all versions of the pupil questionnaire
(with the exception of the enquiry about homework, which was not asked at P3)
This focused on language used at home, home resources for learning (or potentially for learning), potential learning activities out of school, through club memberships and hobbies, job aspirations, since these might motivate learning, and homework (not explored at P3).
Another section of questions that featured in every questionnaire in some form presented pupils with a list of different occupations, and asked them to rate the importance for the occupation of a given language skill or of mathematics (using a 4-point scale: 'very important', 'quite important', 'not very important' and 'not at all important').
The jobs list shown in Figure D2 was presented in all English Language questionnaire versions at P5/P7/S2, while a reduced list was presented at P3. In the Mathematics versions of the questionnaire the jobs list was longer, since pupils were not asked about the importance of particular skills within the subject.
Figure D2
Questions about the importance of subjects/skills for jobs
(The question here refers to reading; other versions of the questionnaire asked about writing, listening, talking or mathematics. At P3 a shorter list of jobs was included, while for mathematics the list was longer, since no sub-skills featured.)
A further enquiry in every questionnaire also focused on a common theme - frequency of engagement in different activities with adult family members. Here, though, a single set of 12 different activities was distributed across the various questionnaire versions, with three activities presented in any one version (see Figure D3). Pupils were invited to estimate how frequently they engaged in each activity with a parent, carer or other adult family member (using a 5-point scale: 'most days', 'most weeks', 'about once a month', '2-3 times a year', 'hardly ever').
Figure D3
Frequency of family activities outside school
(The various questions were distributed across the different versions of the questionnaire,with three questions per version as shown)
Turning attention to learning activities in school, another enquiry, used only at P5, P7 and S2, invited pupils to estimate how often they spent in their English language or mathematics lessons in each of a number of given activities (using a 4-point scale: 'during most lessons', 'most weeks', 'once or twice each term', 'once a year or less'). Figure D4 lists the full set of given activities.
Figure D4
Frequency of lesson activities
(Included only for P5/P7/S2, with a parallel enquiry for mathematics)
In a related enquiry, pupils' views about English Language or mathematics were explored, as was the nature of their subject learning and assessment (see Figures D5a and D5b). Pupils were invited to indicate the degree to which each of a number of descriptive statements about the subject and subject lessons was true for them (using a 4-point scale: 'yes, always', 'mostly', 'not usually' and 'definitely not', with 'don't know' also an option). The various statements between them spanned pupil behaviours and teachers' practices in the areas of teaching, learning and assessment, along with some aspects of resource use. For reasons of space, only half the statements were included in the questionnaires at P3.
The subject-unique enquiries that were included in the English language questionnaires explored pupils' activities in each language area, in and out of school, along with reading and writing preferences. Pupils were also invited to offer self-assessments for English language, and to rate the importance of learning a second language. Figure D6 presents the enquiry as it appeared in the relevant questionnaire for P5, P7 and S2 pupils; for P3 the enquiry was split across two questionnaires, questions about reading and writing being kept together as one set.
Figure D5a
Perceptions of subjects, subject learning and assessment
(At P3 only half the statements were presented; at all stages there was a parallel enquiry for mathematics))
Figure D5b
The nature of subject lessons
(At P3 only half the statements were presented; at all stages there was a parallel enquiry for mathematics)
Figure D6
Questions about English language
(All 12 questions appeared together in one questionnaire at p5/P7/S2;at P3 the first six questions, on reading and writing, appeared in one questionnaire with the remaining six questions appearing in another)
Two mathematics-unique enquiries looked at, respectively, pupils' perceptions of the relative difficulty of different topics in mathematics, and the frequency with which different types of mathematical equipment were used in lessons.
Figures D7a and D7b list the topics that were presented to pupils at P3 and at P5/P7/S2, respectively, for a difficulty rating (using a 4-point scale: 'very easy', 'quite easy', 'quite difficult' and 'very difficult', with 'don't know' also a possible response).
Figure D7a
Perceived difficulty of topics for P3
Figure D7b
Perceived difficulty of topics for P5, P7 and S2
Figure D8 lists the various pieces of mathematical equipment that pupils were presented with when they were invited to estimate how often they used each (using a 4-point scale: 'during most lessons', 'most weeks', 'once or twice each term' and 'once a year or less'). Only 'protractor or angle measure' and 'nets' were not included in the enquiry at P3.
Figure D8
Equipment used in mathematics lessons
('Protractor or angle measure' and 'nets' were not included at P3)
D.2 The ICT pupil questionnaire
A short questionnaire focusing on ICT use was administered by the field officers to pupils attempting practically-based ICT tasks. Questioning began with an enquiry into pupils' access to computers and the internet at home (see Figure D9).
Figure D9
ICT questionnaire: computer and internet access at home
(Questionnaire administered to individual pupils by field officers)l
The questions about home access were followed with questions about their general frequency of use of computers, both at home and at school (see Figure D10). Pupils then asked in which school subjects they used computers (Figure D11), and for what purposes they used computers at home and at school (Figure D12). Finally, pupils were asked to indicate which hardware they used at home and at school (Figure D13) - their frequency of use of the various types of hardware was not explored.
Figure D10
ICT questionnaire: frequency of computer use at home and in school
(Questionnaire administered to individual pupils by field officers)l
Figure D11
ICT questionnaire: computer use in school subjects*
(Questionnaire administered to individual pupils by field officers)
* This is the S2 wording - for primary pupils the list was appropriately modified, with 'topic work' included.
Figure D12
ICT questionnaire: types of computer use at home and in school
(Questionnaire administered to individual pupils by field officers)
Figure D13
ICT questionnaire: hardware use at home and in school
(Questionnaire administered to individual pupils by field officers)
The results of this enquiry are presented in Section I.8.
D.3 The teacher questionnaire
A single questionnaire was developed for completion by class teachers. Its aim was to explore the circumstances and nature of teaching and learning in English Language and mathematics at P3, P5, P7 and S2 - the four stages assessed in the survey. To this end, the questionnaire came in eight different versions: one for each pupil stage in English Language and one for each pupil stage in Mathematics.
Three sections of enquiries focused, respectively, on the teacher, the subject lessons and teaching resources. Section A invited information about the teacher's length of teaching experience, time in current post, time spent per week on teaching and preparation, professional development opportunities, use of national assessments, and views about pupils' lesson attendance, learning motivation and behaviour in class (see Figure D14). Section B explored the nature of the teacher's English Language or mathematics lessons, by asking how often pupils were engaged in various different activities, answer options ranging from 'during most lessons' to 'once a year or less' (see Figure D15). Section C looked at resources for teaching, inviting teachers to indicate how often they used each type of resource in their teaching (see Figure D16), using the same frequency categories as for lesson activities.
The various versions were distributed to survey schools in such a way that each would be responded to by a representative sample of class teachers working with pupils at the stage and in the subject concerned. The findings are presented in Section J.
Figure D14
Section A of the teachers' questionnaire, here focusing on English Language at P7
Figure D15
Section B of the teachers' questionnaire, here focusing on English Language at P7
Figure D16
Section C of the teachers' questionnaire, here focusing on English Language at P7
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