Please read the section below that is relevant to you. There is also a teacher support links section at the end of the page.
Information for Teachers regarding the National Survey
What is this research study about? This is a University of Birmingham study. It looks at the things that help, and do not help young people to engage democratically on race and faith equality issues. Part of the study involves 20-minute surveys of Year 10 pupils and their teachers from state-funded secondary schools across England. To find out more about the survey, watch our video on the home page.
Why are teachers in a certain school invited to take part? Schools are randomly selected from the Department for Education National Database by our team for invitation to take part in the study. All teachers who teach Year 10 pupils in the school are asked to take part in the survey – not just the Year 10 form tutors.
What if I don’t teach about social issues? As all teachers are role models of public service and engagement for young people, we are asking all Year 10 teachers to take part, regardless of the subjects they teach. The surveys are focused on Year 10 pupils and teachers as this is a particularly important time for the development of young people’s civic, social and political consciousness.
Why does it matter? There has been lots of public debate about freedom of speech in higher education. But there has been little focus on how well-prepared young people are to understand and express themselves on social issues that may affect them before adulthood such as race and faith equality, and how supported teachers and schools are to help them.
What’s the benefit? We will use the findings to work with all education stakeholders to support schools to further develop how they support young people to engage with important social issues that may affect them. If your school is participating, we will also give you access to a dedicated resource bank which you can use to support addressing equality and citizenship issues as a member of school staff. Your school will also receive a dedicated report comparing your school’s anonymised pupil answers to answers of pupils throughout England. Teacher data will not be included in this report.
What does the survey involve? This 20-minute survey asks teachers about their views on what is good/bad for democracy, how you engage in civic/political issues, how your school deals with diversity issues, and your experience of CPD on diversity issues. We will ask teachers their gender, ethnicity, and religion/beliefs to help us compare the responses of teachers from different groups. These questions have been trialled with other Year 10 teachers. As these can be slightly sensitive questions, we provide a list support links for at the end of the teacher information letter.
Is the survey confidential? Yes, and you and school will not be named. Your colleagues will not know whether you took the survey or not. We will not be publishing survey data from any schools or people individually.
Can teachers withdraw from the survey? Yes, participation is totally voluntary and teachers can decide to withdraw at any time before or during the survey. There are no negative consequences to not participating. Please note, if a teacher does complete the survey, it will not be possible to withdraw their data from the study.
What will happen to teachers data? We upload the anonymous survey data to our encrypted computers and our secure institutional online platform for the project period (to 2025). The data will be deleted from here once all project analysis is complete. As a normal research practice, our survey data will be held on our secure institutional long term server for 10 years, and then completely destroyed.
Where will I find out about the study results? We will publish our main study findings in a project report on this website, and share them in an online stakeholder launch event. We will also share links to open access academic journal articles and headline national survey results from the study on this website. You can follow us on social media (@UoBEdResearch) to find out when the results will be out. We will also contact your school to share the national results with you.
What are the possible disadvantages of taking part? It is unlikely there will be any disadvantage to taking part. However, as we are asking about sensitive equality issues, we provide you with resources that might be useful to them in thinking about these issues.
Who has approved this study? The study has been approved by the University of Birmingham Research Ethics board, and funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
Information regarding Lesson Observations and Interviews
What is this research study about? This is a University of Birmingham study. It looks at the things that help, and do not help young people to engage democratically on race and faith equality issues.
Why does it matter? There has been lots of public debate about freedom of speech in higher education. But there has been little focus on how well-prepared young people are to understand and express themselves on social issues that may affect them before adulthood such as race and faith equality, and how supported teachers and schools are to help them.
Why are teachers in my school invited to take part? We have a rare opportunity in this study, thanks to our funders the Leverhulme Trust, to continue to spend more time in four out of the six schools that we have done pupil and teacher interviews with us in Birmingham and London in the 2022/23 school year. We would like to stay with your school in particular because of the diversity of the pupil population as well as the strong sense of collaboration your school has offered. As we are particularly interested in subjects that teach about social and political issues directly, we would be honoured if you would consider allowing us to spend time observing your lessons in your subject area with the new cohort of Year 10 pupils for one full term. As our focus remains on Year 10 pupils, we would work with the new cohort of Year 10s for 2023/24.
What’s the benefit for me and my school? Along with some minor additional assistance to your lessons, we will be keen to give you in-depth comparisons of practice with the three other anonymous schools in the study. This is a once in a generation opportunity to look at practice in four case study schools in an in-depth, sensitive way beyond the constraints of school evaluation frameworks. We will make recommendations for you and work with your Senior Leadership Team and pupil representatives to continue to enhance the school’s development of pupils as citizens.
What does it involve? Your involvement will make an important difference to our findings. Our purpose is not to evaluate your teaching as an individual. The purpose of this ‘ethnographic’ research is to create rich accounts of everyday life inside and outside of four contrasting school communities that help the education sector and wider world understand what it is like to live through developing one’s civic and political awareness, and teach and learn about equality issues in different places. Asli (for Birmingham schools) or Shajed (for London schools) can offer some light assistance to pupils and staff both in these lessons. With your permission, Asli or Shajed as appropriate would interview you after observing a series of lessons over time.
Is my participation confidential? Yes, your school, and you will not be named. While members of the school community will be aware that Asli (for Birmingham schools) or Shajed (for London schools) is observing your lessons, we will not feedback any individual information on your practice to other members of staff or the Senior Leadership team. The only rare exception to this rule, which we advise all participants about, is the unlikely event we witness a serious safeguarding issue that we must inform the Designated Safeguarding Lead about.
How will my data be used and secured? We record all interviews using a Dictaphone or digital recording device, and lesson observations are handwritten and typed up. Our audio recordings and typed notes are uploaded to our secure encrypted institutional computers and our secure institutional team online platform for the project period (to 2025). The audio is transcribed and anonymised by a professional transcriber, and destroyed once all project analysis is complete. All data will be securely stored on our secure institutional long term server for 10 years, and then completely destroyed.
What will pupils and their parents/guardians be told about the observations? The pupils will be informed that, with their parents/guardians’ permission and their own assent, Asli (for Birmingham schools) or Shajed (for London schools) will take notes to help the study understand how issues of race and faith equality, and social and political issues more generally are taught, learned about and discussed within Year 10 in this school and in three others. With your help, we will send a letter that we have drafted to all parents/guardians of your Year 10 pupils, which informs them about the study and gives them the choice to withdraw their child from observation if they wish. If a small number of parents/guardians withdraw their children, we will treat this confidentially, and we can still go ahead with the observations. We will just not take notes about interactions involving those children.
Who is advising on this study? The study is supported by an Advisory Group including members from the Unicef Rights Respecting Schools Programme, Birmingham City Council, Brap Equality and Human Rights Charity, and teachers and academics from across England. The study is funded by the Leverhulme Trust, and ethical approval for the study has been granted by University of Birmingham.
Where will I find out about the study results? We will publish our anonymised main study findings in a project report on our website, and share them in an online stakeholder launch event, which you will be invited to. We will also share links to open access academic journal articles and headline national survey results from the study on our website and social media @UoBEdResearch
What are the possible disadvantages of taking part? It is unlikely there will be any disadvantage to taking part. However, as we are asking about sensitive equality issues, we provide you with resources that might be useful to them in thinking about these issues.
Who has approved this study? The study has been approved by the University of Birmingham Research Ethics board, and funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
Teacher Support Links
NASUWT Guiding Principles on Student Voice
National Education Union Framework for Developing an Anti-Racist Approach
Podcast and Infographic from Prof Judith Pace on Learning to Teach Controversial Issues
Scottish Government National Improvement Hub Recognising and Realising Children’s Rights: A Professional Learning Resource to Promote Self-Evaluation and Improvement Planning
Unicef Rights Respecting Schools Resources