What is the School Opinion Survey?
The School Opinion Survey (SOS) is an important opportunity for students, parents/caregivers, and staff to share their opinions on what their school does well and what could be improved. The suite of surveys has 4 confidential surveys:
- parents/caregivers
- students
- students in special schools
- school staff.
Who is surveyed?
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Parents/caregivers—every family will be sent an invitation for each school where they have a child enrolled in kindy to Year 12.
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Students—all students in Years 5, 6, 8 and 11 will be invited to participate in the survey. In some smaller schools, students in Years 4, 7, 9 or 10 may also be invited to participate.
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Students in special schools—the survey is administered to students at the principal's discretion.
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Staff—all teaching and non-teaching school staff will be invited for each school they work at during the survey period.
Who has access to the survey?
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Parents/caregivers—an invitation to complete the parent/caregiver survey is emailed to 1 parent/caregiver per family in the week before the survey opens. The invitation is sent from the department, not the school. If a family has more than 1 parent/caregiver, check that your child’s other parent/s haven’t received the invitation and/or check your junk email folder. Some parents (in remote areas) receive a paper form but have the option to complete the paper form or complete the survey online.
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Students—students in Years 5, 6, 8 and 11 receive an invitation email with a unique link to complete the online survey. In very small schools, students in Years 4, 7, 9 and 10 may also be invited to participate.
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Students in special schools—special schools receive an email containing a generic link for their students to access the online survey.
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Staff—staff receive an invitation email with a unique link to complete the online survey.
When is the survey open?
The survey is open for 4 weeks in Term 3. The timing ensures that most respondents have sufficient experience with the school to give feedback and allows all parents/caregivers to learn about school-based reporting.
How long does it take to complete the survey?
This varies; most respondents complete the survey in under 10 minutes. Completing your survey as early as possible will help your school determine further promotion of the survey to reach everyone.
Is the survey compulsory?
Participation in the survey is
voluntary. Respondents are strongly encouraged to give their opinions to ensure survey results are representative of the opinions at their school.
Do my responses make a difference?
The feedback gathered through the survey is a valuable resource for schools to use alongside other key information to help with their planning and improvement processes. This supports a focus on critical areas such as school culture, student learning, and student wellbeing. Responses from parents/caregivers and students can shape better learning environments.
The more people respond, the more complete the representation of the school community will be in the final report.
Who runs the survey?
The survey is processed by the Queensland Department of Education (the department). This includes administration of the online surveys, processing and reporting. Invitation emails are distributed by the Surveys Team in the central office of the department.
Who will see my survey responses?
Individual responses are never disclosed, and any personally identifying information (such as email addresses) is removed prior to processing.
Your responses will be strictly confidential, and the information is used in ways which protect individual responses. All responses are protected by the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld). The department is legally bound to ensure that no identifying information is published or released.
Why does the survey ask personal information?
Demographic data helps analysing survey results in different ways, such as differences in responses between groups, like students in different year levels or teaching and non-teaching school staff. Strict confidentiality rules are applied to any reporting of these groups, so that even in very small schools, confidentiality is maintained.
Where is the survey data stored?
All survey responses are treated confidentially and stored securely. The department must keep these records safe:
- paper forms (available to some remote schools) are archived and stored for a period of 5 years before they are securely destroyed
- online responses are stored securely on departmental servers with access restricted to a small number of central office staff.
What if I find a question difficult to respond to?
The survey consists of a series of statements. If you find it difficult to choose a single response for a statement, please select the option that best reflects your views most of the time. Even an approximate response is more valuable than leaving it blank.
If a statement doesn’t apply to you or you are unable to answer, please select the option 'Unable to Comment' and move to the next statement.
If you are a parent or caregiver with more than 1 child enrolled at this school, please complete the survey with your eldest child in mind.
I have no internet access. How can I complete the survey?
You can access the survey online using a valid survey link. The survey can be completed on any computer, tablet, or smartphone with internet connection, whether at home, work, school, or another location.
If you don’t have internet access at home, ask your school if they can offer internet connection, and/or a computer, if needed, so you can complete the survey.
If you need help completing the survey over the phone, you can contact the Survey Team on free call 1800 067 971 for assistance.
Can I see the survey before filling it in?
You cannot see the entire online survey before starting. However, you can move back and forth between pages while completing it.
Once you have clicked the 'Submit' button, you cannot review or change your responses anymore. Until submitting, you can re-enter the survey if you wish to consider your responses.
How are the results used?
Each school receives a summary report for their school towards the end of the school year. Schools can share their results in different ways, including in the school annual report.
The department also reports system level data (for example, for all schools) in the department's annual report.
Can I see the survey results?
Survey results are scheduled for release in Term 4 each year.
Reports for individual schools are distributed in early Term 4 and may be requested directly from your school.
Who can I contact about the survey?
If you have any questions or concerns about the School Opinion Survey your school cannot resolve, please email
SchoolOpinionSurvey@qed.qld.gov.au.
Can I give feedback in addition to the survey?
The School Opinion Survey gathers feedback on targeted focus areas to inform continuous improvement at the school and system level. The survey is not designed to collect information of a specific nature through open text fields.
Should you have more specific feedback, or concerns about your school or the schooling system, we recommend the following approach:
- Contact your school—school contact details are available on the school website, or by phoning 13 QGOV (13 74 68) or by searching the
Schools Directory
- Contact your
school’s regional office if you feel uncomfortable raising your concerns directly with your school. You can find your school’s regional office on the Schools Directory.
- If you have a
specific complaint (PDF, 1.4MB) and all other avenues of enquiry have been exhausted, the department’s complaints process can be followed.