Assessing Children’s Social Development

We have been talking to thousands of parents/carers across the country about their children’s development. Interviewers visited their homes to ask these questions. As part of the interview we also asked parents/carers for their permission to contact their child's teacher. We are now contacting teachers to ask them about the social development of children in our study.

How did you collect consent from parents/carers?

We spoke to each child’s parent/carer face-to-face and asked them if they would be willing to provide the contact details of their child’s teacher, and if they would give us permission to contact that teacher in order to ask some questions about their child's social development. 

What would I need to do?

If one or more of the children in our study told us that they attended your school we will be sending you a short questionnaire for each of these children. This questionnaire is called the Child Self-Regulation and Social Behaviour Questionnaire, which is a short, behavioural questionnaire. We will also provide a reply paid envelope so that you can return the questionnaires once they are complete.

Who can fill out the questionnaire?

The questionnaire should be completed by the teacher who was identified by the child's parent/carer as the person who taught the child last year. 

What if the child you’re asking about no longer attends my school?

If this is the case please try to answer all the questions to the best of your ability from when they last attended your school - your observations are crucial to this study.

How will the information I provide be used?

The results will help the government make decisions about early education for children in England. Anything you tell us is confidential. Any information collected about the children at your school will be stored securely without names or addresses attached. The results collected are for statistical purposes only – your setting and the children at your school will not be identified in any reports or publications.

Complete confidentiality

Your personal details and questionnaire responses will remain strictly confidential and will be handled in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The information will only be available to the research team working on the study.

For more information

Please contact us.