Information to Parents and Guardians Regarding the Survey Used in Culture for Learning

Information to parents and guardians regarding the survey used in Culture for Learning

The school your child is attending is part of the project Culture for Learning (“Kultur for læring” in Norwegian), which encompasses all schools in Hedmark County. Children and youth in Hedmark shall grow up in a culture for learning that motivates them for education and participation in the community and workforce. A concerted effort for children and youth’s upbringing and learning shall contribute towards:  the improvement of academic results in compulsory education  increased completion rates in upper secondary school  key stakeholders in the area of upbringing commit to collaborating

In this work, raising competence and developing teachers’ teaching practice and important endeavour. In order for your child’s school to be able to create a better learning environment with good conditions for the pupils’ social and academic learning, it is important that the school receive information from pupils, parents as well as staff regarding everyday life at school. We will therefore conduct a total of three surveys in the autumn of 2016, 2018, and 2020 during the project period. If you would like to read more about Culture for Learning, you can do that here (in Norwegian): https://www.fylkesmannen.no/Hedmark/Barnehage-og- opplaring/Kultur-for-laring/

The purpose of the survey The first survey, which was conducted in the autumn of 2016, served to provide an overview of the school situation and identify areas that the school should develop further. In the next two surveys, which will be carried out in the autumn of 2018 and 2020, the focus will be on any changes, but also identifying new areas that the school can work with. The goal is to work with educational quality at all levels.

Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Centre for Studies of Educational Practice • www.sepu.no • [email protected] Mail address: PB 400, 2418 Elverum • Visiting address: Midtbyen skole, Hamar • Phone: +47 62 43 00 00

Data from the survey will be used in two ways:  Each school and municipality will get access to the results from the survey through a designated online results portal, allowing them to investigate the current situation, but also to analyse any changes since the previous survey. The results will be contextualized by the teachers’ work at each school. No data will be available for groups smaller than seven.  When schools in different municipalities work with improvement, there is a need to evaluate along the way. The data will therefore be used for research purposes with the aim to evaluate Culture for Learning as a whole.

Who is responsible for the survey? Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences is the institution in charge of the management, while Centre for Studies of Educational Practice (SePU) carries out the survey.

What does it mean for you and your child to participate? If you decide to participate, there will be four surveys directly concerning you:  Pupil survey (grades 1–4) o Topics: Well-being, relationship to the teacher and to fellow pupils. o Administration: The pupils sit by a computer and the questions are read to them through speech function. The pupils themselves must assess whether they agree with each statement by clicking on one of four available smileys (very happy – happy – upset – very upset).  Pupil survey (grades 5–10) o Topics: Well-being, behaviour, relationship to the teacher and to fellow pupils, teaching, self-efficacy. o Administration: The pupils read the statements on a computer or tablet and respond to each statement based on the extent to which they agree with it.  Form/homeroom teacher (“kontaktlærer” in Norwegian): o Topics: The pupils’ social skills, motivation and effort, and academic achievement. The form teacher will also be asked to indicate the pupils’ cultural background (Norwegian, Sami, Western minority, non-Western

minority), whether the pupils receive special needs education, and whether the pupils have a diagnosis or impairment (ADHD diagnosis, visual impairment, hearing impairment, behaviour problems or learning difficulties). o Administration: The form teacher completes one questionnaire for each pupil whose parent/guardian has given their consent  Parent survey o Topics: Satisfaction, information, dialogue, influence. o Administration: You will receive a username from the school that you use to log in, and respond on a tablet, computer or cell phone. In case you as a parent wish to see the questionnaire for pupils, form teachers or parents/guardians, please contact the school.

Statement of consent letter In the autumn of 2017, a survey was conducted in the kindergartens that are part of Culture for Learning. We wish to transfer the usernames of the children who participated in that survey, and who are now in grade 1, from kindergarten to school. We therefore ask your permission to do this (see the Statement of consent letter). In this way it is possible to see the interconnection between school and kindergarten. Furthermore, we wish to transfer the username from primary to secondary school. For those of you whom this concerns, we also ask that you give your consent (see the Statement of consent letter). In addition, we ask you to consent to your own participation.

Use and protection of data Conexus Ltd. manages the data from the survey. The same company is also in charge of the national Pupil Study (“Elevundersøkelsen” in Norwegian). In the current study there is great emphasis on responsible storing of data and in accordance with the law on protection of privacy.

The project was approved by the ombudsperson for protection of privacy, Norwegian Centre for Research Data (NSD) on Sept. 26, 2018, with the project number 231761. At the request of Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, NSD has assessed that the treatment of personal information in this project is in accordance with the legal framework for protection of privacy.

This entails:  Participation in the study is voluntary, and you may at any time withdraw from the study without providing a reason  There will be no consequences for you as a parent/guardian or your children if you do not participate in this study  No information gathered through the survey that can be traced back to individuals will be disseminated  No information that can be traced back to individuals will be shared with anyone else, such as staff at the school  The analyses regarding the evaluation of the project will only be at the group level, meaning school, municipality and county, or pupil groups, such as boys/girls, pupils who do/don’t receive special needs education  The data is managed confidentially and de-identified in three ways: 1. The informers’ personal names are replaced with a username (pupil: E12345; Parent: F12345; Form teacher: K12345). The scrambling key (username– personal name) is stored at each school. The researchers do not have access to the scrambling key and the school does not have access to the database to see what each individual has responded. 2. Before the researchers are sent the data files from Conexus, new usernames will be created for the informants, such that the researchers receive different usernames than those stored on each school. 3. Results for a group of fewer than seven informants are NOT shown in the results portal. The schools are therefore not able to access results on an individual level and the research results are ONLY presented at the group level.  Professor Thomas Nordahl at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences and leader of Centre for Studies of Educational Practice will have access to the data, as will his research team.

Rights While the project is in operation, you have the right to:  know what personal information is registered about you  correct personal information

 delete personal information  be given a copy of your personal information (data portability)

What happens with the information about you after all the surveys have been conducted? The project is scheduled to end in June 2021. Then all the data will be anonymised by Conexus Ltd. deleting all original usernames in their files.

Where do you find out more? If you have questions regarding the study itself, or would like to exercise your rights, please contact:  Ann Margareth Gustavsen, in charge of carrying out the survey at SePU: Cell phone: 416 48 301. Email: [email protected]

For technical support in carrying out the survey:  Conexus Ltd. Email: [email protected]

For questions regarding approval of the study and protection of privacy, you may contact:  The person in charge of protection of privacy in research at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences: Anne Sofie Lofthus. Phone: 612 88 277. Email: [email protected]  NSD – Norwegian Centre for Research Data. Phone: 555 82 117. Email: [email protected]

Finally In order for the school to get the best possible picture of the state of the school, it is important that as many pupils as possible participate.

Best regards Ann Margareth Gustavsen, In charge of the survey