How to assess impact via student voice

Ways to evaluate pastoral care directly from those who experience it

Evaluating impact is an important part of pastoral care in education settings and there are fewer better ways to truly understand whether students feel safe (and if not, why not?) than asking them. However, getting genuine, objective student voice can be difficult, especially when those asking the questions are associated with behaviour and discipline.

Here are some suggestions that could allow you to engage with students in a more meaningful way that we have seen work well in a variety of settings:

• Use your governors
  People who are connected to the school but have some distance from students can often be easier for young people to talk to and be honest with. Governors can be ideally placed to do this. There is a double benefit here, as they can then write this up on a visit record. Ofsted often ask governors “How do you know pupils are safe?” so direct engagement is an excellent way to evidence this.
  
  

• Use online quizzes
  Online surveys can be created very easily on a number of platforms (Google Forms, Microsoft Forms, Kahoot, Survey Monkey etc). The great benefit of this is that it can allow you to increase your sample size, which can add validity to the data you glean. You may find you get more frank responses by anonymising the process. If you do, we’d advise looking for common themes rather than individual stories.
  

• Conduct split testing
  It can be insightful to do some A/B testing: asking the same questions of distinct groups. For example, if you are trying to establish whether your LGBTQ+ community feel they have a safe space in school (which is now a direction within KCSiE 22), ask an A group of pupils who identify with that group and a B group who do not.  Discrepancy can often point you in the direction of action.
  

• Focus on behaviour as well as opinion
  If you can demonstrate that pastoral care has changed behaviour over time, this is a powerful indicator of success so consider this in your evidencing. For example, if you were considering safety in the lunch queue, ask pupils to give you numbers of incidents etc when you ask them to rate their safety.  Implement your changes and then ask them again.  Have the numbers decreased?  If so, there is a tangible measure of the impact of your work.

Finding innovative ways to really understand the value of the work that you are doing is all part of the pastoral process and will allow you to continue to evolve your policies to benefit your pupils and your setting as a whole.

Further help with evaluating pastoral care

We have a wealth of experience in this area, from our own time spent working in schools and from the settings that we work with now. There is no fixed template as all organisations have their own requirements, but we can help you find the right strategies for your pupils. Contact us for further information.