Data Collection and Surveys

Policy

This policy explains department data collection from schools to meet reporting and other obligations. This policy also explains requirements for schools to participate in specific surveys.

Summary

• Schools must update student and school data in CASES21 or other department platforms as required by the department.
• Data is extracted from CASES21 as required by the department for reporting purposes.
• Schools must participate in the department’s annual student, parent/caregiver/guardian and staff opinion surveys to generate data for School Performance Reporting and standardised reporting to the school community.
• Schools with children in Foundation (Prep) are expected to participate in the triennial Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) which will next be administered in 2027.
• Schools are notified through the School Update when they are required to submit data and complete surveys.

Details

Overview

The department requests schools to provide school-level data annually or from time to time:

• to provide program implementation or evaluation information
• for system reporting.

Due dates, login details and instructions for completing data collections including surveys are provided through the School Update.

Key data extractions, data collections and surveys are listed below. The department may initiate additional collections or surveys from time to time.

Data extracted by the department from CASES21

The department extracts data from CASES21 for:

Student attendance and absences

• For data entry requirements refer to Attendance Guidelines Chapter 5 Requirements for Attendance.
• If using third party software for attendance, data must be imported to CASES21 daily.

Teacher judgement of student achievement

For due dates and instructions refer to Reporting Student Achievement and Progress Foundation to Year 10.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) – students with a disability

Must be entered by the first Friday in August. For detailed guidance on the NCCD process refer to Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability.

Year 9 to 12 exit destinations data

Must be uploaded by the end of the second week in March.

Data collections completed by schools

Principal Survey and Supplementary Census

• Conducted biannually in Terms 1 and 3
• It consists of 2 parts – Principal Core module and Supplementary Census modules which cover 10 to 15 topical areas per semester and gathers critical insights on programs and initiatives. This provides a key source of feedback between schools and the department on current operational issues and helps the department to learn and improve as a system
• Differentiation based on school-type

Australian Early Development Census

• The seventh nationwide implementation of the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) will take place in early 2027
• The AEDC provides valuable information for schools, communities and government on what is working well and what needs to be improved or developed to support children and families. Completed by classroom teachers for each child in Foundation (Prep), and the child does not need to be present
• Takes approximately 13 minutes per child (20 minutes of casual relief teacher reimbursement per child is provided)

Surveys undertaken in schools

Participation in annual student, parent/caregiver/guardian and staff opinion surveys helps schools and the department plan, monitor and evaluate school improvement initiatives. The surveys are aligned with the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes and reflect current research and evidence about what matters most to improve student outcomes.

The department may change these surveys or introduce new surveys for all schools, or a subset of schools, to further enhance system or school reporting.

Information for schools about each survey relevant for the current year is provided in the Guidance tab.

The department provides a standard survey instrument for schools (with differentiation for various participant characteristics), access to a secure online survey platform and reports survey results to schools.

Student Attitudes to School Survey

• Conducted annually in Term 2 and all schools are expected to participate
• All students in Years 4 to 12 are invited to participate
• The survey provides an opportunity for schools to gain insights into student perceptions of their school and their learning. The survey asks students about their thoughts and feelings regarding their school, their learning, peer relationships, health and wellbeing and life in general
• Differentiated versions of the survey provided for year level groups, including accessible versions to support participation for students with disability or additional needs
• Schools facilitate collection with students during school time
• Survey provider contacts all schools late in Term 1 or early Term 2 with information and instructions for facilitating the survey with students

Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey

• Conducted annually in Term 3
• All schools are expected to participate and it is strongly encouraged to invite all parents/carers to complete the survey
• The survey is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of families’ perceptions of school climate, student behaviour, and student engagement
• Survey provider contacts all schools early in Term 3 with information and instructions for distributing the survey to parents/carers/guardians
• Schools distribute the survey link to parents/carers/guardians

School Staff Survey

• Conducted annually in Term 3
• All school, staff, teaching and non-teaching, are expected to participate
• The survey allows school staff to give feedback on their school and explores topics such as school climate, teaching, learning, and instructional leadership. Information from the survey supports schools in their annual implementation planning
• Survey is differentiated based on role classification (principal, teacher, education support) and whether staff spend time in the classroom
• Schools can select additional elective modules for completion
• Schools are contacted in Term 2 by the survey supplier to select which modules their school will complete
• Survey provider contacts staff directly to provide a link to complete the survey

Related policies

• Annual Report to the School Community
• Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability
• Reporting Student Achievement and Progress Foundation to Year 10
• School Performance Reporting and Data
• Student Enrolment Census

Guidance

Dates that surveys will be available each year are published in the Key dates for schools calendar (staff login required) and published in the School Update.

This guidance contains the following chapters:

• Attitudes to School Survey
• Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey

Guidance for how to complete the Australian Early Development Census in 2027 is provided by the national data collection agency, Social Research Centre. Schools receive physical information packs and emails to support participation.

Attitudes to School Survey

The Attitudes to School Survey is conducted annually in Term 2. Survey dates are published annually on the Key dates for schools calendar (staff login required)

ORIMA Research Pty Ltd has been contracted by the department to administer the online collection of the Attitudes to School Survey. ORIMA Research will contact schools with instructions on administering the survey and they will provide support throughout the survey period via a telephone hotline and email.

For technical queries and support regarding the Attitudes to School Survey, please contact ORIMA Research on 1800 654 585 (toll free during business hours), or by email: atoss@orima.com

For any participation or survey-related queries, please contact the department by email: school.surveys@education.vic.gov.au

All schools must participate in the Attitudes to School Survey, providing the opportunity for students from Year 4 to Year 12 to complete the survey. The survey provides data that is invaluable in understanding the student perspective of their school and to improve the schooling experience.

Data collected includes how students feel in relation to their school, their learning, peer relationships, resilience, bullying, health and wellbeing, physical activity, and life in general.

Survey preparation and administration

• Ahead of the survey collection period, schools will be emailed a link to access a secure administration site for the survey. This portal will include the resources schools need to participate in the survey, including template communications to parents/carers and student log-in details.
• To participate, schools will nominate a survey coordinator to interact with the survey portal on behalf of the school.
• The coordinator’s role is to download the student log-in details from the portal and provide teachers with these details for their students.
• The survey coordinator will manage opt out requests from families and ensure these students do not participate in the survey.
• Schools will schedule survey sessions for all students to complete the survey in class time during the survey collection period.
• Coordinators will be supported by ORIMA Research through a telephone and email helpline, as well as detailed step-by-step guides.

Supporting students to participate

The Attitude to School Survey is available in a variety of alternative versions to enable all students to participate, including:

• accessible version (a shorter survey that uses simplified language)
• accessible short scale (a shorter survey that uses visual aids and fewer response options)
• Auslan translation support resources (to support deaf and hard of hearing students).

Survey completion at schools – on-site learning

• The supervising teacher will provide the class with the secure survey link.
• The supervising teacher will give each participating student their unique survey log-in.
• Students log-in to the secure site and complete the survey online.

School results

Schools can access their survey results from the secure survey portal following the end of the survey collection period.

School support

ORIMA Research will provide support for schools throughout the survey period through a telephone helpline and an email support option. Details will be provided to schools when they are given their portal link.

Schools are also encouraged to use their health and wellbeing coordinators to provide support to students, if needed. For advice and support for student health and wellbeing, please contact the school’s regional office.

Communication to parents/carers and students

Principals must ensure that the school community are notified about the survey prior to commencement, and that families are aware that student participation is voluntary.

Principals must also inform parents/carers that they can opt out of their child participating in the survey before the survey commencement date, by sending a refusal of consent email to the school stating the student’s name and year level:

• The school’s survey coordinator will action this request to ensure those students do not complete the survey.
• Parents/carers must be advised that department provides ORIMA Research with student names and other details (please see further below) in order to facilitate this process for the school and broader survey administration.

Sample text for parents/carers and/or the school newsletters, and an information and consent letter for parents/carers, will be provided for schools in the ORIMA portal. These materials are provided in English and translated into a variety of languages.

The survey framework which contains the questions asked in the standard, accessible and accessible short scale versions of the survey will be available on the Resources tab from the start of Term 2. Additional survey information such as sample questions will also be available on the survey administration portal and schools may distribute these to parents/carers.

Data privacy

• All information collected will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Data and Protection Act 2014 (Vic), the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) and the Public Records Act 1973 (Vic).
• The department provides personal information including student name, year level, date of birth, CASES21 ID, gender and school to ORIMA Research to allow them to administer the survey, including to facilitate the opt out process that is run by schools.
• The full student sample list containing such information is deleted by ORIMA research annually, at the conclusion of each cycle of the project.
• ORIMA creates a unique login for each student to complete the survey, which will be shared with students by their teacher. The student login is an assigned identifier that may be used to link data by the department for statistical and research purposes only. The login does not contain the student’s name or CASES21 ID.
• The department receives the final survey data file from ORIMA Research. Personally identifiable data will not be recorded in the survey response file to ensure the confidentiality of student responses is protected at all times.
• Please note that consistent with the above legislation, there are instances where we may be required by law to share information students have provided. For example, where there is a threat to a student’s health and safety. For more information and support, please contact the department’s Privacy team at: privacy@education.vic.gov.au
• The survey results will be reported back to schools throughout the survey period. All survey data that is made available to schools are for groups of students only so that no individual student can be identified.
• Individual student responses are not shared with schools and data suppression rules are used for schools with low student numbers per year level, so that no individual student can be identified.
• For more information, please refer to the Schools’ privacy policy.

Get advice

For any participation or survey-related queries, please contact the department by email: school.surveys@education.vic.gov.au

Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey

The Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey is conducted annually in Term 3. Survey dates are published annually on the Key dates for schools calendar (staff login required).

Participation in the Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey Schools will use the same secure survey portal from ORIMA Research as for Attitudes to School Survey. ORIMA Research will email login details to all schools ahead of the survey collection period.

Survey administration

• The survey coordinator downloads the school’s survey link and PIN from ORIMA Research portal page and distributes to parents/carers.
• Parents/carers/guardians log-in to the secure site from any compatible device and complete the survey online.
• The online survey is available in English, Arabic, Mandarin, Chin (Hakha), Hindi, Vietnamese, Japanese, Greek, Turkish, Somali and Punjabi. Parents/carers/guardians select their preferred language when they commence the survey.
• Additional survey language guides available in Albanian, Assyrian, Bengali, Burmese, Dari, Dinka, Persian, Filipino, Gujarati, Hazaragi, Indonesian, Italian, Karen, Khmer, Korean, Macedonian, Malayalam, Pashto, Russian, Samoan, Serbian, Simplified Chinese, Sinhalese, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Traditional Chinese, and Urdu via ORIMA Research portal page.

Survey preparation

• Schools are strongly encouraged to invite all parents/carers/guardians to complete the survey via a generic survey link. Schools can also generate unique survey links for each parent/carer/guardian. The school survey link is available in the Orima survey portal.
• Schools advise parents/carers/guardians of the upcoming survey via school bulletin or newsletter.
• Translated information letters and sample text for schools to inform their community are made available in the ORIMA portal.
• Schools requiring language guides in additional languages can contact the department by email: school.surveys@education.vic.gov.au

School results

Schools can access their survey results from the ORIMA portal following the end of the survey collection period. The department provides final reporting of school’s results through Panorama, at the conclusion of all data processing.

School support

For technical queries and support regarding the Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey, please contact ORIMA Research on 1800 654 585 (toll free during business hours), or by email: pos@orima.com

Get advice

For any participation or survey-related queries, please contact the department by email: school.surveys@education.vic.gov.au

Resources

School-based surveys

Accessing school-based surveys

Login details will be emailed to each school for access to the ORIMA survey administration portal.

What are the questions in the surveys?

The following documents list all the questions asked in the surveys and are updated ahead of the collection each year:

• Attitudes to School Survey framework (DOCX)
• Attitudes to School Survey framework (PDF)
• Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey framework (DOCX)
• Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey framework (PDF)
• School Staff Survey framework (DOCX)
• School Staff Survey framework (PDF)
• Victorian Student Health and Wellbeing Survey framework (DOCX)
• Victorian Student Health and Wellbeing Survey framework (PDF)

Interpreting results of school-based surveys

The Results Support Resource for Schools provides guidance to understand the results of the Attitudes to School Survey and Parent/Caregiver/Guardian Opinion Survey at an individual school level. This also includes practical approaches to support the school improvement cycle across the survey domains.

Results support resource for schools (PDF) (staff login required)

Australian Early Development Census

Data from previous years, including case studies and data visualisations at a local level, can be found on the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) Victoria website.

Schools will receive a School Report following the data collection.

For further enquiries, contact: aedc@education.vic.gov.au

How can I see my school’s results?

• Principals – login to Panorama
• Other school staff – speak to the school principal