14yo odd quiz at school- do I complain

[Cornecopia]

My ds came home yesterday and said that he had to fill in an online form ( not just him the whole of his year) and the questions were- what is your sexual orientation, are you comfortable in your gender, have you had sexual experiences, have you ever sent or received inappropriate pictures.
I understand some questions are safeguarding views. But bloody hell the sexual orientation etc why on earth is that relevant to my sons schooling?? I just feel his privacy has been really invaded and he doesn’t know himself whether he’s is straight/gay or whatever- I did ask him if there was. ‘Prefer not to say’ option and he said yes but the teacher said not to use that!
I just don’t really know what to think about it all

Of course you can’t take an option out. Did the teacher actually say that though, j think we need to know their exact wording to understand if that was interpreted correctly.

A wise response 👍

Ds2 aged 15 but with ADHD doesn’t know his sexuality. He is not even vaguely interested in working it out.

Well the teacher wasn’t checking their answers so presumably they could fill in whatever they wanted/leave it blank etc. The

Where do you think we get data from about things like gay pupils are more likely to report being bullied?

How does it do that?

The teacher absolutely has no right to do this. If half the class want to use the ‘prefer no to say’ option it raises questions about why it has not been made clear to them that they whole survey is optional. It is absolutely ok for half the class to do this.

she was probably trying to counteract all the parents who are so suspicious of everything and telling their children to never fill in surveys/give information without understanding the bigger picture

Is this about DS not knowing his sexuality, or wanting to start a conversation about it?

It's the sort of thing that a lot of teen boys wouldn't think to mention at home other than with an eye roll, so I would be wondering if there are topics he wants to explore some more.

If half the class prefer not to say then that's perfectly valid and probably important information for the survey setters.

There's a couple of national questionnaires that could get filled in at secondary and some councils and local NHS trusts partner with schools to collect information to improve services. It's bad form not to tell parents that it's happening tbh, we would let parents know that a sensitive questionnaire is being completed and what will happen to the data.
I suspect the teacher has said "try and give an answer, don't just use unsure/don't know" to encourage them to commit to a response rather than click through as quickly as possible.

Op did you not get a letter telling you about this survey? I'd be surprised if you didn't .The letter should have an option to opt out your child and the children themselves can choose not to do it too .If you didn't get a letter I understand why you would be uncomfortable with this so before you complain I'd check 1st.If you got the letter and didn't read it then it's on you. Personally I have no problem with these surveys -they signpost young people to support and it's nothing they aren't thinking about alone or talking to their peers about (or their parents in my case) already.

Flagging non existant issues and offering "support" that isn't needed is problematic.
They're just prying and carrying out their trendy agenda.

What right has she to do that? To undermine both parents and research ethics?

it was a joke.

she shouldn’t direct them to not use an answer but I think we need the op to explain what the exact wording was given to her son before we can conclude the teacher said that. The way the op provided this info was a bit odd as if the teacher had said this surely she would have included it in the opening post rather than just in response to someone pointing out that you don’t actually have to say

Another post where the OP child word is completely correct and no possible misunderstanding, misinterpretation or basically not listening properly may have occurred.

Op talk to the school if you are that concerned. At the end of the day if you don't want to provide information that helps your son and his peers fair enough

I'd doesn't matter whether it's a nationwide NHS one or not, it is inappropriate.
The teacher wil say they had to do it, so best to go straight to the principal.
Probably a good idea to check their PSHE material too.

OP did include it in her opening post.

I mean, did the teacher actually say "Don't use the Prefer not to say option" or did she say, ""It's better for you to avoid using the Prefer Not to Say option as it gives the researchers more information to act on" or something similar. The two are not the same but could be related to parents as the same by an unreliable teen 6 hours after actually doing it in morning form time.

Either is totally unacceptable.

It would be anonymised data collection. Nobodyvat school would have been able to see your son's responses. HTH.

By providing statistical evidence of a problem or lack there of. This can be used to support a need for investment or intervention or the need to disinvest and not intervene.

it should not be used in isolation either way as survey responses can be skewed by people giving answers they think are socially acceptable.

I would check about the not using the "prefer not to say" box and I would want to be sure it was anonymised, but with those two caveats, I can't see a problem.

But it parents are usually informed in advance about this sort of thing- you haven't missed an email, have you?

Also, it's possible they were discouraged from using the "prefer not to say" box rather than forbidden to..."Only use it if you really have to..."