In this survey series, well-being at school is under observation. The respondents belong to four target groups: primary schools (grades 4-6), lower secondary schools (grades 7-9), upper secondary institutions, and personnel. The data are collected during each school year, and schools can independently decide in what time of the year they respond to the survey. The first datasets archived at the FSD are from the school year 2004-2005.
The School Well-being Profile is based on Anne Konu's doctoral dissertation, in which well-being at school is divided into four categories: school conditions, social relationships in school, means for self-fulfilment in school, and health status. The quantitative datasets in the series examine these categories with the help of statements and multiple choice questions. The topics in the survey are the same to all respondents, but the wording of the questions has been specifically adjusted for each target group. The data are collected through an Internet survey on the web page of the Finnish National Board of Education.
The survey focused on the well-being of staff in primary and secondary schools and upper secondary institutions in Finland. Staff opinions on school facilities, working conditions, social relationships, and means for self-fulfilment in school were studied, as well as their perceived health status. The survey contained both statements and multiple choice questions. The respondents indicated to what extent they agreed with the statements using a five-point scale (i.e. from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree").
School facilities were studied with a number of questions about the classroom (e.g. size, temperature, ventilation, desks), toilet facilities, the dining room, the schoolyard and the school building (e.g. safety, functionality). Access to and trust in the school nurse and counselling supervision were charted as well as opinions on the school timetable, school rules and punishments, order in the classroom, and the workload. The statements relating to social relationships canvassed relations between staff members and between staff members and students. The survey also covered opinions on whether parents were participating in solving problems concerning their children or in developing the school, and whether parents appreciated the work done by the staff or were willing to discuss issues with teachers if needed. Views were probed on whether the staff were treated equally, and whether it was easy to get along with the headmaster or get help from him/her if needed. In addition, the respondents were asked whether they had been bullied or harassed at work during the ongoing term and whether they themselves had bullied or harassed someone else.
The survey also studied whether staff opinions were taken into account in developing the school and in drawing up school rules, and whether the school encouraged staff to express their views. The respondents were asked whether they appreciated their work, felt they could concentrate on their work and cope with their tasks, knew their strengths and weaknesses, had found a suitable method to do the work, whether the pace at work was suitable for them, and whether they found their work interesting. Regarding health, the respondents were asked about their perceived general health and whether they had had various symptoms (e.g. stomach ache, sleeping problems, headache, fear, anxiety) during the ongoing term.
Background variables included the respondent's gender, working hours (part-time or full time), number of years working in the school, and type of contract.
No specific sampling method was used in data collection - instead, the respondents were staff in Finnish primary and secondary schools and upper secondary institutions which actively volunteered to participate in the survey. The School Well-being Profile was not widely advertised to schools. Teachers heard about it in various seminars, for instance. The Well-being Profile was designed to be a tool for schools to use for development and self-assessment. Still, the schools using the Profile had to commit themselves to subjecting the data for scientific use.
The survey questionnaire was available on a web page administered by the Finnish National Board of Education, and an id code was required to access it. Schools could register for the service and thereby receive a school id, which enabled them to create id codes for their staff. The staff then filled in the questionnaire, also providing the id code they had received. Only the responses with the id were saved. Thus, each staff member could fill in the questionnaire only once. The technical implementation of the survey ensured that the respondents answered all background questions (excluding age) and at least two thirds of the questions in each module.
Restrictive factors preventing schools from participating, in addition to not volunteering actively, included not having access to the Internet and unwillingness to use a web tool in their development work. There were differences between schools, for instance, in the speed of the Internet connection, in the IT equipment available and in the way the equipment was used.
46 schools participated in the survey, and there were 884 respondents. 245 worked in primary schools, 542 in lower secondary schools and 97 in upper secondary schools or institutions.