TellUs Survey
TellUs is a series of annual confidential online surveys to gather quantitative information on the views and experiences of children and young people. Commissioned by the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (OfSted) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) the surveys provide evidence for the National Indicators for Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships and aim to help local authorities judge the impact of their services on perceived quality of life for children and young people. The survey asks children and young people questions about satisfaction with services (including aspects of their school life) and questions relating to the five ‘Every Child Matters’ outcomes - including healthy eating.
In relation to diet and nutrition, children are asked to say how many portions of fruit and vegetables they normally eat in a day. There is also a separate attitude question on children’s perceptions of the information and advice they get on eating healthy food. In relation physical activity children are asked to self report on the number of days they took at least thirty minutes of activity.
- Methodology: Pupils complete questionnaires online via a dedicated TellUs website. The TellUs survey is completed by a sample of children from all local authority areas across England. In spring 2007, 111,000 children from 114 local authorities took part, an average of about 800 children per area. The sample is drawn from school years 6, 8 and 10.
- Start date: 2006
- Frequency of survey: Annually
- Most recent return: Spring 2007
- Commissioned by: OfSted and DSCF
- Coverage: The sample size is calculated with a view to obtaining a sufficient number of responses to allow robust analysis at Local Authority level. Sampling mechanisms take account of types and sizes of schools together with other socio-economic factors, and the sample includes maintained schools, pupil referral units, Academies and City Technology Colleges. Data are collected at school level, and aggregated up to Local Authority level
- Caveats: The questions were developed through cognitive testing with children, to ensure that they understood the questions and answered them in a meaningful way. It is not clear whether the questions have been validated against another methodology. There are some issues regarding response rates, and schools are omitted if response rates do not protect the anonymity of the schools and pupils.
- Link to data source: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Forms-and-guidance/Tellus2-survey-2007/(language)/eng-GB
- Link to associated papers: More information on TellUs is available from the OFSTED website: http://www.ofted.gov.uk
