Step 1

Identify objectives:

Identifying objectives and goal setting is a great way to start. Make targets specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time focussed. For example:

"Our school aims to survey 90% of year 9 and 10’s before the end of September."

Also this is a good exercise for focusing on specific subject agendas so if Teen Pregnancy is a priority area then a goal may be to choose the most relevant 5 questions in this area from our optional question bank.

Step 2

The Survey

Completing the survey is step 2. The best results are achieved when the highest possible representation of students participate and the conditions are right for honest and willing participation. Our guide within resources can assist you further with this.

Step 3

Reporting

After completing the data your school will be able to view a report showing statistics based on year group, location and gender. Your ability to pick out and promote positive behaviours and differences between perceived behaviours is central to the Intervention Stage next.

Step 4

Intervention (promoting positive behaviours)

This is the school’s opportunity to promote the positive behaviours from the survey and dispel a few myths that may have also been apparent. For example if young people think that at least 20% of people in their year have taken an illegal drug and the reality is actually only 10% then you could run a poster campaign saying

"9 out of 10 students in year 10 say they have not tried an illegal drug – stay in the majority"

For more ideas around Interventions, visit the Interventions Showcase Section.

Step 5

The Survey - revisited

Following a series of Positive Interventions, conducting the same survey again is the next critical step. There should be enough time allocated between the 2 surveys to allow for the Interventions to take affect but not too long so that the key messages are forgotten. A suitable period of time as a minimum is considered three months, more would be better.

It is also important to keep the same questioning to assess like for like results and potential attitude shifts.

Step 6

Reporting and Evaluation

Following the 2nd survey, it will become apparent if there is a representational shift in attitudes and perceptions, which is widely accepted to ultimately affect behaviours.

Recording this data will help your school to address key wellbeing and performance indicators, further details of which can be found in the main Schools Section.

Take time to evaluate these findings before reintroducing the 6 stage process the following year.