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

A teenager’s ’had to’ usually means we were asked to. Teacher was wrong to tell them not to use the prefer not to say but my guess is they thought that most kids would use this to rush the questions so useless in gathering data.

What I don’t like about this is having to announce your sexuality at a young age. At that age, I had zero sexual experience! I fancied wholly inappropriate people because I didn’t know any real people (ie boys). Eg recall fancying princes from my history text books, seriously! I was also quite scared of boys, again since I didn’t actually know any. Sexuality changes too, including depending on availability (at a girls school like mine, for instance, only girls were available…).

Especially where schools are engaging outside companies - eg "No Outsiders" which are attached to lobby groups or groups with particular agendas

No it's not, teenagers sometimes need a bit of prompting to not just take the easy way and click "prefer not to say" just because they can't be arsed to read the rest. There's nothing wrong with telling them only to use that option if they are really uncomfortable with the question.

Need a bit more context on what it was for and why. And who would have access to this information, including if it was anonymous.

I actually think schools understanding the situations their pupils are in is important, so they can learn how to support young people.

I'd also question if the teacher actually said don't use that box, or if they encouraged them to provide as much information as they could.

But flagging up issues to who, on what basis, why without parental contact, and what support given by whom? Certainly not the teachers I hope who are not trained to provide psychological support.

What support do you think is appropriate in the event that a child discloses their sexuality but have not indicated any distress etc and what involvement do you think the parents should have?

You're probably right, in which case the instructions for the teachers should tell them to advise pupils clearly that all the answers are acceptable. It shouldn't depend on the teacher's assumptions. Not telling teachers how to run the survey correctly makes it useless in gathering data.

I did ask him if there was. ‘Prefer not to say’ option and he said yes but the teacher said not to use that!

Absolutely unacceptable - kick up a huge fuss - if it's an 'official' survey demand that everyone repeats it because the results may have been compromised on account of the inappropriate instructions. Demand that the original results be destroyed on the grounds that people may have been forced to disclose things against their will. Kick up a huge fuss.

My daughter did something similar, I think it was in PHSE. I was really cross not just about the form but because each pupil was made to say out loud what their sexual orientation was. My daughter said she and the class felt uncomfortable about it. I really wanted to write an email to express feedback, but my DD was worried it would single her out so I didn’t.

It’s not just these forms that annoy me - when my son took his GCSE mocks in English there were some really odd questions about boys wearing make-up and cosmetics for boys - I couldn’t care less if boys want to wear make up, but it just feels creepy to slyly add this sort of content into exams. My son said many of the boys went in the next day and asked why the school was trying to brainwash them.

As an adult I.would be ticking prefer not to say as it is non of their fucking business

I am astounded that so many of you have problem with data gathering !

how on earth is the government / local authorities going to know how to spend money and what the trends are to if they don’t ask ?

most kids do know their sexual or at 14 but it fine to ask , have you not asked your kid where they may be leaning?

Some people do find their sexual orientation doesn't change from when they were a teenager, all through their adult lives, but that's not true for lots of other people. Exploring who you are and what you want is practically a teenager's job, and many people find out what their core orientation is later - and sometimes much later - in life.

Saying that who you might fancy as a teenager inevitably determines who you might be attracted to as an adult helps no gay person. (I say this as a gay person.)

I am quite astounded that people don’t think these things are spoken about in playgrounds etc, all the time. Do you think your child will have never had sexuality alluded to, in any way, in any conversation with friends ?

I’m a Governor at a Catholic school we have gay students, ones that identify as Trans, hetro .. we have children with LGBT parents and siblings. The environment at school needs to be inclusive, and we need to make sure thar students feel safe regardless of sexuality.

Young people are much more open to discussing this stuff that the older generation, it would seem.

@ExtraOnions as a school governor have you ever had any training about research ethics, particularly with subjects who are children? It sounds like you're defending the way this survey was run and I'm surprised that you, and so many posters here, don't seem to know what the standards are for conducting research with under 18s.

Which does not justify a teacher telling (or asking) 14 year olds not to tick "prefer not to say".

Young people are much more open to discussing this stuff that the older generation, it would seem.

Quite the opposite, it would seem. The classroom is not the playground. This 14 year old's preference was not to say and his legitimate preference was treated with disrespect by the older generation.

A teenager that is not allowed to put 'prefer not to say' and who doesn't want to say is likely to lie. This will skew the data.

It's really bad that they were told not to put 'prefer not to say'. A child's right to privacy and right to feel safe is far more important than collecting data no matter what that data is being used for.

I think most people think data gathering is beneficial (though whether anyone does anything that benefits the people who gave the data is questionable) - it's HOW the data is gathered is what people are concerned about.

Have these students been taught about how to question what their data will be used for, whether (and how) it will be anonymised, how long the data will be stored for, who it will be shared with?
I think not.

each pupil was made to say out loud what their sexual orientation was.

WHAT?

And you make them feel safe by giving them the right to 'prefer not to say'.

That is literally how you make them feel safe.

I have no problems with data gathering when it's done properly. I have problems when it isn't. Especially around children.

I’m a former social researcher (used to design and crunch numbers from surveys like this for a living) and yes, definitely complain. All questionnaires like this require participants’ informed consent. If your son didn’t understand what the purpose of the form was or how his answers would be used, was told he had to participate and was prevented from choosing ‘prefer not to answer’, then he didn’t have informed consent. In a way it is the teachers’ fault in that they should have passed on all that info and allowed him to opt out, BUT teachers have their own job to do and this isn’t it! It’s the job of the researchers to make sure the form is going to be properly administered, so ultimately it’s their failure.

Ask to see a copy of the questionnaire and get in touch with the body who made it - again, their details ought to be there on the opening page of the questionnaire as part of the consent process - and tell them about how the school are administering the survey.

This is lazy research. It relies on the fact that the children are sitting ducks and will do what they are told to in school, when in fact they have as much right as adults do to opt out. It is also arguably more sensitive for children to take part as they are more likely to be in the middle of working out the answers to questions such as their sexual orientation. Also, any adult would be allowed to complete this in privacy whereas I bet in a classroom setting people could overlook each other’s answers if they wanted to, raising the possibility of bullying.

I'm guessing there wasn't a MYOB option

Seriously, surely there should be no obligation to provide this information? It's private

The bit that I would have an issue with is that the teacher said not to use the "Prefer not to say" option.

I'd be asking the teacher if they really said this.

Either way, the pupils don't have to take any notice.

Sorry, I didn't read the whole thread. The teacher was wrong tho to say not to use the "Prefer not to say" option.

I have concerns about endless personal data being gathered about my DC as once it is collected it is out there into the ether! School's gathering all sorts of digital data on children relies on responsible technological stewardship. But I'm not convinced that many schools are good at this i.e carrying out the due diligence prior to implementing the survey, have they carried out a Data Protection Impact Assessment, do they know how committed the vendor is to minimal data collection, robust privacy practices and high quality data breach procedures. What is the lawful basis for processing this personal data in the survey, I can't imagine it is anything other than Consent and at 14 a pupil is definitely old enough to consent for themselves it doesn't matter if the parent agrees. My teenagers attend a state school/college and have not taken this survey which suggests the lawful basis is Consent and also alludes to my point above the many schools do not understand data protection and that children are required special protection under data protection laws.