Children and Young People's Survey (2008)
01 September 2008
Kent County Council (KCC) and its partners are committed to hearing and acting upon the views of children and young people. KCC wished to gather the views and experiences of children and young people across a range of issues relating to the five Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes and life in Kent, to inform planning, service development and review at strategic level. In 2006/07 NFER was commissioned by KCC to conduct an independent survey of children and young people in Kent. More than 42,000 children and young people participated in the survey which provided a wealth of information for KCC and its partners, clusters and individual schools on the views and experiences of children and young people. KCC has commissioned a similar survey one year on.
Research questions
The aim of the surveys was to assist KCC and its partner agencies in the planning, service development and review of services at strategic level across the county and within clusters and individual schools, by collecting the views and experiences of children and young people on a range of issues related to the five ECM outcomes and life in Kent. More specifically, the surveys:
- provided information on children and young people’s needs and priorities across the county, to inform Kent’s Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP)
- assisted KCC in meeting the 2010 target to ‘listen to young people’s views and opinions and develop their ideas to improve education and life in Kent’
- enabled comparisons to be made with the findings from the NFER 2006/07 survey and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) ‘TellUs2’ survey in Kent.
Research design and methods
The methodology was similar to that used in the NFER 2006/07 survey. There were two surveys: one for primary pupils (aged seven -11) and one for secondary and college students, including those participating in work-based learning (aged 11-19). The content of the surveys was the same as the 2006/07 survey with some minor changes. KCC were responsible for inviting schools to participate in the research.
Kent secondary summary
Kent primary summary
Kent community summary