In discussing the Evidence2Success survey of pupils, it is worth pointing out that children often understand a lot more than we give them credit for.
In general, young people pick up on a lot more about the world around them than many adults realise.
That insight may be one reason why the Scottish Government has backed the work done in partnership with Perth and Kinross Council by the Dartington Social Research Unit and why the survey is likely to be rolled out in other council areas. If we want to know what is going on in the lives of schoolchildren, the best way to find out is to ask.
Nevertheless, it is reasonable to question whether it is appropriate to inquire of primary pupils whether "sometimes I feel that life is not worth it"; likewise, whether they or their friends have tried to steal a car within the last 12 months or "attacked someone with the idea of seriously hurting them".
The response from the researchers is that such information is extremely useful. They say it helps councils, health services and charities make better use of public money. They can understand children's needs and respond in a more targeted way, intervene earlier and plan better.
Perth and Kinross says the survey, which it piloted last year, was voluntary and anonymous, and an attempt to engage with the community to plan services. There is nothing wrong with councils seeking the best information possible to help officials do their jobs better. But it is slightly misleading to suggest that the controversial questions were only a small part of last year's 24 page survey. In fact, it covered legal and illegal drug and alcohol use, domestic disturbances, parental approaches to discipline, weight problems, theft and weapon-carrying.
If such research in schools can be used to improve health interventions, identify bullying or flag up domestic violence, it has the potential to be useful. But there are caveats.
The information must be genuinely representative and reliable. School pupils have a tendency to exaggerate in response to such questionnaires and controls need to be in place. Already some of the findings have wildly contradicted other information available about a given school.
Opting-out must also be a realistic choice. With the initial survey, both parents and pupils had the chance to decide not to participate, but information provided was limited.
As other councils begin to use the survey, changes are planned. Pupils will still have to opt-out rather than opt in. This makes sense. If the survey participants are self-selecting, it is likely to become worthless as a source of information.
But researchers now acknowledge too much priority was given to keeping communications with parents brief, rather than informing them of the detail of the exercise.
Better information for parents will make opt-out meaningful. Meanwhile the removal of the most intrusive questions, about sexual behaviour and risky practices, until alternatives can be considered is also the right decision and a welcome change.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article