The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

I: Parent questionnaire results

The following section presents the results of the questionnaire sent to parents of P3 pupils as part of a one off exercise in the 2006 SSA. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. The first asked about their child's pre-school experience, and the second about the parents' experience of contact with the primary school.

I.1 Response rate and sample composition

The questionnaire and a parents' covering letter was sent to every P3 survey school, with a request that both be forwarded by the school to the parent(s) of every P3 pupil selected to participate in the survey. In total, 8,190 copies of the questionnaire were delivered to P3 parents. More detail is available in Annex III.

Completed questionnaires were returned for a total of 4,028 P3 pupils - the 'Parent sample', drawn from 552 schools. This represents 60% of the P3 pupils who returned test booklets in the survey and gives a return rate for the parent questionnaire of 49%.

Reflecting the nature of the survey sample as a whole, the parent sample contained an over-representation of most reporting authorities. Because return rates varied across authorities, and authorities vary in terms of their deprivation mix ( i.e. % pupils living in geographical areas deemed to be among the 20% 'most deprived' areas in Scotland), the sample also showed a 'deprivation bias', with just 14% of the pupils from most deprived areas compared with 22% nationally. Finally, there was a slight gender bias, with 49% of the pupils being boys compared with 51% nationally. These imbalances were addressed during analysis by weighting the data appropriately, to produce national estimates. However, it is not possible to identify (and therefore correct for) any other imbalances that may be present in the data due to the low response rate.

Parents were asked about the language(s) that they mostly used at home with their child. English was recorded as the first language for 92% of the pupils and numerous second languages were mentioned for small proportions of pupils.

I.2 Attendance at pre-school education

Parents were asked whether or not their child had attended pre-school education before starting primary school and, if they had done so, which of five types of centre had been attended. Almost all pupils (98%) had attended pre-school education before starting primary school, which reflects the findings of the pre-school and childcare census ¹ and indicates that the majority of parents are taking the option of the free place to which all three and four year old children are entitled. The estimated proportions of pupils attending each type of centre are shown in Table I1 below. Around three-quarters of the pupils had attended a single type of centre, with the rest attending two or more different types.

Table I1
Types of pre-school/nursery attended

*'Most Deprived' means the pupil lived in one of the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland based on the 2004 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation ( SIMD), the remainder of pupils are classified as "Less Deprived"

Parents report that 44% of pupils previously attended a local authority nursery class in a primary school and 36% attended a local authority nursery school. Just over 20% of pupils had attended a playgroup and a similar proportion had attended a private nursery. Only 1% had attended a child and family centre.

While there were barely noticeable differences in the corresponding proportions for boys and girls, there were significant deprivation differences with a greater proportion of pupils currently living in a deprived area having previously attended a local authority nursery school and lower proportions having attended other types of centre.

Parents were also asked about the age at which their child started in pre-school education. The results are shown in Chart I1.

Chart I1
Age of first attendance at pre-school
(% pupils)

According to responding parents, their children started attending pre-school education between the ages of 1 month to almost 6 years, although where a very early age was reported this is likely to refer to child-care in general rather than the more exact definition of pre-school education ². The most common starting age was 3 years, with more than two thirds of pupils having started at that age. This result reflects the fact that children are legally entitled to a free pre-school place at the start of the term following their third birthday, although some authorities may offer places earlier than this.

Finally, parents were asked about the age at which their child started primary school. Over 90% of the pupils had started primary school between the ages of 4½ and 5½ years, 5 years being the overall average ³.

I.3 Information received about learning and progress.

Respondents were asked six questions about their contact experience with their child's primary school. The results are given in Tables I2a and I2b.

Around 30% of parents said that they received information more than once a term about what their child was learning and the same number said that they also received this amount of information about how they, as parents, could help at home. A slightly lower number (20% of the total) stated that they received information about how their child was getting on with his/her learning on a similarly frequent basis. The number of parents who said that they had received no feedback on these issues was generally very low, although higher (at 9%) regarding information on how to help with their child's learning.

More than half of respondents said that they had the opportunity to comment on homework more than once a term. Thirty percent felt that they talked with their child's teacher about their learning progress and 20% said that they saw their child's work in the classroom this frequently. Once again, the number of parents who said that they never had such opportunities was very low.

Table I2a
School contact experience

*'Most Deprived' means the pupil lived in one of the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland based on the 2004 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation ( SIMD), the remainder of pupils are classified as "Less Deprived"

Table I2b
School contact experience (continued)

*'Most Deprived' means the pupil lived in one of the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland based on the 2004 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation ( SIMD), the remainder of pupils are classified as "Less Deprived"

« Previous | Contents | Next »