What do I need to do?
Promote the survey to eligible students. The Next Step surveys include the Year 12 Completers survey for those who complete Year 12, and the State School Leavers survey which follows up on students who leave state schooling during Years 10, 11 or before completing Year 12.
To support you, promotional materials, including suggested social media text and graphics, will be provided at relevant times during the year for each survey. For the Year 12 Completers survey, you will receive some materials prior to Term 4 to let current year completers know to update their contact details and expect a survey in the following year. Prior to the commencement of each survey, you will receive further materials that may help you to promote the surveys.
A prize draw is usually offered for survey participants, so raising awareness of these surveys in your school assures students and parents that they are legitimate surveys and helps to improve response rates.
Do I need to send a list of our Year 12 completers / school leavers for inclusion in the survey?
No. The survey frame for the Year 12 Completers survey is provided by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA), with additional contact details from the department’s central OneSchool state school student system, while the State School Leavers survey frame is drawn solely from OneSchool. Contact information is provided, under the Statistical Returns Act 1896 (Qld), to the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office, who conduct these surveys on behalf of the department.
To help your school get the best response rate for the Year 12 Completers survey, please encourage Year 12 students to keep their details up to date in the QCAA student portal. State schools are also encouraged to keep contact details for both students and parents up to date in OneSchool to improve response to both surveys.
Do I need to administer the surveys?
No, the department engages the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office (QGSO) to conduct the fieldwork for both Next Step surveys. Year 12 completers / state school leavers will receive an invitation, by mail or email, to participate in the survey online. Students may also receive a phone call from the QGSO and/or survey reminders by email or SMS.
Do I get to see the results of these surveys?
Statewide reports will be published online for Year 12 Completers and Early School Leavers. A report builder facility is provided alongside these reports which allows users to aggregate results for specified regions across a range of survey topics.
Year 12 Completers report
If you have at least 5 respondents from your school, a summary and detailed school report will be emailed to your school around late September of the survey year, using the contact details in the Schools Directory. Please update your school’s contact details there if needed.
The summary report is for publishing on your school website to meet reporting obligations under the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006, while the detailed report is for your own internal usage. For state schools, the summary report is automatically uploaded to your school’s website.
For historical reports, please contact your principal in the first instance. If you are unable to obtain your previous school reports from your school’s records, you can submit a request to nextstep@qed.qld.gov.au.
Early School Leavers report
Due to small numbers, school reports are not created. Statewide and regional reports are available from the Early School Leavers reporting page. The timing for this publication is usually during Term 1 of the year following the survey.
Why aren’t all my Year 12 students included in my Year 12 Completers school report?
The survey frame for the Year 12 Completers survey is provided by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA). The QCAA registers students who receive a Senior Education Profile, Queensland Certificate of Education or Queensland Certificate of Individual Achievement. If your school uses a different curriculum which does not go through the QCAA, they will not be captured in the survey frame. Please do not send a list of your students to the department as we will not be able to add them to the frame.
My school already follows up on our students’ post-school pathways. Why might our results differ from Next Step survey results?
Students’ post-school destinations change over time. The Next Step surveys only capture a snapshot of students’ circumstances at a particular point in time, so it is unlikely that results will match up. Results from the Next Step Year 12 Completers survey are required to meet school annual reporting obligations and collecting this data from central office helps schools that may not have the resources to do this themselves. Consistent data collection across schools also allows school results to be analysed within the context of regional and state outcomes. Please feel free to share any additional post-school information with your school community alongside any reporting from the Next Step survey.