Sport England
Secondary Teacher Training
Dear Parent / Guardian,
Sheffield Hallam University would like to inform you about research taking place at your child’s school to evaluate the effectiveness of a new initiative to improve students experience of PE and physical activity, that is currently being offered to all secondary schools in England. The research project requires students to complete a short on-line survey that asks their opinion of the Physical education, physical activity and sport opportunities available to them at school.
The University undertakes research as part of its function for the community under its legal status. Data protection allows us to use personal data for research with appropriate safeguards in place under the legal basis of public tasks that are in the public interest. A full statement of your rights can be found at https://www.shu.ac.uk/about-this-website/privacy-policy/privacy-notices/privacy-notice-for-research. However, all University research is reviewed to ensure that participants are treated appropriately, and their rights respected.
All data from the study is anonymous and your child's data will be combined with those of many others and summarised in a report to further protect their anonymity. A “prefer not to say” option is included for any demographic question should you prefer your child not to disclose this information. Your child’s school will receive a report detailing the data that is inputted into the survey, however, any demographic information that is collected will not be included and the identification of individuals from the data will not be possible. Sport England and the Secondary Teacher Training Consortium will also receive regular reports detailing the results of the survey from all schools across the country. Again, these are fully anonymised, and no individual will be identifiable. To communicate our research to the public and the academic community your anonymised data is likely to form part of a research publication or conference presentation or public talk.
The survey will be administered once at the beginning of the research and again at the end to document any change in response. The research will take place between April 2021 and July 2022, data will be kept by Sheffield Hallam University for a period of ten years after the completion of the project before being destroyed.
In addition, your child’s school may be chosen to take part in some small workshops that would take place in school time. Further information will be provided if and when your child’s school is chosen. If you would like your child to not participate in the research study, please could you let your child's school know? Your child will also be required to give their consent for us to use their response in the research, this will be done by ticking a box on the survey.
Please note that your child’s non-participation in the study will not result in any negative influence of participation in comparison to your child’s peers. It will mean that they will not participate in the survey and workshops should your child’s school be chosen.
If you would like any further information, please see the attached information sheet or please get in contact with Tim Vernon (details below).
Best wishes,
Tim Vernon
Senior Research Fellow, Sheffield Hallam University
+44 (0)114 225 5761 | t.vernon@shu.ac.uk
Information Sheet
You have been invited to take part in a research study. Please read this information carefully.
Secondary Teacher Training
What is research?
Research is used to find the answer to an important question. We try to answer the question by doing a research study.
What is this research about?
The research involves hearing what you think about your PE lessons, school sport and the opportunities to be active during school using a simple survey that will take about five minutes to complete.
Why have you been chosen?
We are asking all children and staff in secondary schools across England to complete this survey and tell us what they think about PE and school sport.
Do you have to take part?
No. It is up to you and your parent/carer to decide whether or not to take part.
If you do decide to take part:
1. Talk about it with your parent/carer. They will have to agree that you can take part.
2. Keep this information sheet.
3. Even if you say “yes” now, you can change your mind at any time before completing the survey and you don’t have to give a reason.
What do you have to do?
You will be asked to complete the online survey. Your school may send you this survey via email, text message or just by giving you a link to the website.
You will be asked a series of questions about PE and physical activity at school that we would like you to answer honestly. There are a couple of questions that will be used by us to give you a unique code so that we can compare your answers when you complete the survey again in a years’ time, these answers do not allow us to identify you. You will also be asked your age, gender, ethnicity and whether or not you have a disability, these are important for us to understand the perceptions of PE and physical activity in different groups of people and do not enable us to identify you, but if you would rather not tell us, we have included a “prefer not to say” option.
What happens next?
If you do NOT want to take part, your parent/carer must let your teacher know. If you are happy to take part, you do not need to do anything until you are asked to complete the survey by your school.
What if something goes wrong?
It is unlikely that anything will go wrong. But if you are unsure about anything, then please tell your parent/carer or teacher.
Can you change your mind about taking part?
Yes. Taking part in this study is your choice and you can ask to leave the study at any time, and nobody will be unhappy with you. Before you begin the survey, you will be asked to confirm that you are happy to participate by clicking a button.
Will your participation in the study be kept secret?
All information collected about you will be kept secret and will be kept secure by Sheffield Hallam University. We will destroy it ten years after the completion of the study.
What will happen to the results of the research study?
The results from this study will help us work out how to provide more opportunity for secondary school students to be active during the school day and how PE lessons can be made better. Your involvement in the study will help Sport England and the Secondary Teacher Training Consortium decide on policies for the improvement of PE and physical activity for children and young people. To communicate our research to the public and the academic community your anonymised data is likely to form part of a research publication or conference presentation or public talk.
