Department of Education: Valuing Education Tracking February 2016 Research Presentation 14 th April 2016

Methodology o Conducted by Millward Brown Ulster – Ad-hoc Survey o Fieldwork o 23 rd February – 9 th March 2015 o 15 th February – 4 th March 2016 o Sample o 2015: 600 C2DE Parents of Year Olds in Secondary Level Education o 2016: 300 C2DE Parents of Year Olds in Secondary Level Education o Margin of Error o +/-4% on a sample of 600 o +/-6% on a sample of 300

Research Objective o To track parents willingness to get involved and support their children in making these choices/ decisions with a view to ensuring options are kept open for future pathways. o To track parents attitudes towards engaging with schools on these matters. o To track awareness, influence and impact of the new Valuing Education campaign. o To track understanding of the key messages of the campaign. o To track behaviour change since the introduction of the campaign, including use of the nidirect website and other support mechanisms for guidance.

Analysis of Sample

Analysis of Sample – All Respondents Source: Millward Brown Ad Hoc Survey Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents

Objective To measure parents willingness to get involved and support their children in making these choices / decisions with a view to ensuring options are kept open for future pathways.

Perceived Level of Involvement with Teenagers Education and the Choices they are making at School On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is not involved at all and 5 is extremely involved, generally, how involved are you with your teenager’s education and the choices they are making at school? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents

Desire to be more Involved in Teenagers Education and the Choices they are making at School Would you like to be more involved with your teenager’s education and the choices they are making at school? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents

Desire to be more Involved in Teenagers Education and the Choices they are making at School: Those who perceive themselves as involved vs those who do not Would you like to be more involved with your teenager’s education and the choices they are making at school? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents *Small Base Yes n=243 All respondents All involved All not involved No n=13* All respondents All involved All not involved

Perceived Level of Involvement in Teenagers Education: Those with desire to be more involved versus those with no desire to be more involved On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is not involved at all and 5 is extremely involved, generally, how involved are you with your teenager’s education and the choices they are making at school? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents Yes n= No n= % involved / 4% not involved 76% involved / 3% not involved 71% involved / 9% not involved 83% involved / 6% not involved

Reasons for Not Getting more Involved in Teenagers Education All who would like to be more involved What prevents you from getting more involved with your teenager’s education? Sample March 2016 – 182 C2DE Parents who would like to be more involved

Reasons for not Wanting to be more Involved with Teenagers Education All who would not like to be more involved Is there any particular reason why you wouldn’t like to be more involved with your teenager’s education? Sample March 2016 – 124 C2DE Parents who would not like to be more involved

Objective To measure parents attitudes towards engaging with schools on these matters.

Main Responsibility in Supporting Teenagers to make Choices about Subjects and Future Career In your opinion, who would you say has the main responsibility in supporting a teenager to make choices about subjects and their future career? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents

Discussed your Teenager’s Subject Choices or Career Options with anyone at their School Have you discussed your teenager’s subject choices or careers options with anyone at their school? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents

Reasons for not Speaking to anyone at Teenagers School regarding their Subject Choices / Education: All those who have not spoken to school Is there any particular reason that you have not spoken to anyone at your teenager’s school regarding their subject choices\ career options? Sample March 2016 – 76 C2DE Parents who have not spoken to the school

Perceived Extent of Impact of Year 10 Subject Choices on Future Career Thinking about your own teenager, to what extent do you believe that his\her subject choices in 3rd form (Year 10) will have an impact on their future career? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents

Reasons for Thinking Year 10 Subject Choices will have an Impact on Future Career Why do you say that? Sample March 2016 – 260 C2DE Parents who think choices will impact future career

Reasons for thinking Year 10 Subject Choices will not have an Impact on Future Career Why do you say that? Sample March 2016 – 42 C2DE Parents who think choices will not impact future career

Objective o To track awareness, influence and impact of the new Valuing Education campaign. o To track understanding of the key messages of the campaign. o To measure behaviour change since the introduction of the campaign, including use of the nidirect website and other support mechanisms for guidance.

Campaign Awareness 2016 Have you seen the following advertisement? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents

Campaign Message What do you think are the main messages that this advertising is trying to get across? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents

Campaign Influence To what extent does this advertisement influence you? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents % Influenced % Influenced

Likelihood of Becoming more Involved in Teenagers Education Having watched this advertisement, how likely are you to become more involved in your teenager’s education? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents % likely to become more involved % likely to become more involved

Level of Confidence about becoming more Involved in Teenagers Education Has the advertisement made you feel any more or less confident about becoming more involved in your teenager’s education? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents % more confident % more confident

Behaviour Change – which of the following have you done / are you likely to do Having watched this advertisement, which, if any, of the following have you done / are you likely to do? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents

Effect of Campaign on those who had no Desire to get more Involved Effect on those who had no desire to get more involved Sample March 2016 – 124 C2DE Parents

Effect of Campaign on those who had a Desire to get more Involved Effect on those who had desire to get more involved Sample March 2016 – 182 C2DE Parents

Comparison of attitudes of those who have seen ad versus those who have not seen ad

Main Responsibility in Supporting Teenagers to make Choices about Subjects and Future Career In your opinion, who would you say has the main responsibility in supporting a teenager to make choices about subjects and their future career? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents: 214 who saw ad / 92 who did not see ad

Perceived Level of Involvement with Teenagers Education and the Choices they are making at School On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is not involved at all and 5 is extremely involved, generally, how involved are you with your teenager’s education and the choices they are making at school? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents: 214 who saw ad / 92 who did not see ad

Have you Discussed your Teenager’s Subject Choices or Career Options with anyone at their School Have you discussed your teenager’s subject choices or careers options with anyone at their school? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents: 214 who saw ad / 92 who did not see ad

Perceived Extent of Impact of Year 10 Subject Choices on Future Career Thinking about your own teenager, to what extent do you believe that his / her subject choices in 3rd form (Year 10) will have an impact on their future career? Sample March 2016 – 306 C2DE Parents: 214 who saw ad / 92 who did not see ad

Summary

Attitudes to involvement and engagement with the school o Almost 4 in 5 (79%) of respondents felt that they were involved in their teenager’s education (up from 70%), with almost 3 in 5 (59%) stating that they would like to be more involved (up from 55%). o For those who wanted to be more involved, feeling like they were already involved enough, their teenager not wanting / needing them to be more involved, lack of time/ other priorities and a lack of knowledge about their work were the main preventing factors. These top factors remained consistent with o For those who did not want to be more involved, feeling that they were already involved enough was the principal reason. This had increased from 68% in 2015 to 77% this year. o Some 7 in 10 (70%) felt that it was both the school and parents/ guardians responsibility to support teenagers through their choices about subjects and future careers (up from 64% in 2015).

Awareness, influence and behaviour change o Three quarters (75%) of respondents had spoken to someone at school about their teenager’s subject/ career choices remaining consistent with last year (76%). The reasons for not engaging with the school including they weren’t at that stage yet (38% from 21%), that it hadn’t been mentioned to them by the school (20% from 30%), their teenager didn’t want / need them to (12% from 23%) or they hadn’t thought about it (8% from 19%). o There had been a 10 percentage point increase in awareness with 70% of respondents now aware of the campaign, with the key message takeout being “Get Involved and Stay Involved”, “Education works”, “It is never too late to get involved” and “help your teenager to make the best subject choices”. o Over 4 in 5 (81%) were influenced by the campaign (up from 78%), with almost 40% stating that they were likely to become more involved with their child’s education since seeing the ad, and 38% stating that they had more confidence about getting involved in their teenager’s education since seeing the ad.

Awareness, influence and behaviour change o Three quarters of respondents (75%) reported a behaviour change (up from 72%), with changes including speaking to their teenager about their subject choices and future career choices, and asking their teenager if they need any help or support with their schoolwork. o The majority felt that Year 10 choices would impact on their teenagers future career, with two thirds (67%) agreeing that it would have a large impact (up from 56%). o The main reason for the belief that there would be a large impact was the choices would be relevant to their A levels / university / career with over half (53%) mentioning this. o Reasons for the belief that there would be a small or no impact included that they were too young to effect their future at this stage (33%) and their subjects will not get them their job (17%).