Timing is an important consideration to make, she says, as the surveys instruct students to base their responses on the class they are in at that time. They now roll this out for all students in May and again in October.

So what we felt was, we needed to make the questions more relevant to them so they can see that immediate flow on from their feedback.’ Targeted feedback collectionĪfter using their own survey for two years, Cartwright came across the Pivot student perception survey which suited their needs well. ‘We wanted to be very specific, because when I shared data back with the children, they said, “we don't take it seriously, nothing happens from it”. ‘We specifically asked about things we were doing at our school about learning intentions, success criteria, our school farm, etcetera. ‘We looked at different surveys that were out there for students and then we basically made our own up for the first two years using Survey Monkey,’ Cartwright explains.

Staff also believed the school’s younger students were capable of providing valuable feedback. ‘We didn't feel it had that real focus on teaching and learning which we were trying to promote,’ Principal Sandy Cartwright shares with Teacher. It all started a few years ago when staff identified some gaps in the standard government student perception surveys that were being completed in Years 5 and 6 at the school.

Earlier this year, we brought you details of new Australian research which revealed teachers rarely act on data received from student perception surveys because they don’t have the support to be able to do so, and because the quantity of feedback can be overwhelming.Īt Alawa Primary School in the Northern Territory, a culture has been built where the feedback that is provided in student perception surveys is prioritised by staff, and students know and understand the value of their feedback that is collected twice a year.

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