FSD2422 School Well-being Profile 2008-2009: Primary School, Grades 4-6
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Konu, Anne (University of Tampere. Tampere School of Public Health)
Abstract
The survey focused on school well-being in grades 4-6 in Finland, studying pupil opinions on school facilities, the learning environment, social relationships in school, and means for self-fulfilment in school, as well as the pupils' 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 three-point scale (i.e. "agree", "neither agree nor disagree" and "disagree").
School facilities were studied with a number of questions about the classroom (e.g. size, temperature), toilet facilities, the dining room, the schoolyard and the school building (e.g. safety, functionality). Opinions on the school timetable, order in the classroom, and access to the school nurse were charted. The statements relating to social relationships canvassed pupil-pupil relationships (e.g. classmate support, having friends at school) and teacher-pupil relationships. Parental attitudes to homework and school were studied. Views on the learning environment were probed with questions on help and encouragement received from teachers and classmates, group work in the classroom, and parents' participation in parents' nights or meetings. In addition, the respondents were asked whether they had been bullied at school during the ongoing term and whether they themselves had bullied someone else.
The statements on self-fulfilment explored different aspects of school work. Opinions on whether teachers listened to pupils and whether pupils' opinions were taken into account when school rules were decided (school democracy) were charted. Views were probed on whether they managed their studies well, whether they considered school work important, and whether they had a chance to receive remedial teaching if needed. 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, depression, and anxiety) during the ongoing term.
Background variables included the respondent's gender, age, grade, and class id.
Keywords
bullying; educational facilities; health; parental encouragement; primary schools; satisfaction; school classes; school-student relationship; schoolchildren; schools; social networks; teacher-student relationship
Topic Classification
educational research; health sciences; welfare studies (FSD Topics Classification)
compulsory and pre-school education; general health; social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topics Classification)
Series Name
Restrictions
School names, municipalities, contact persons, and open-ended questions have been removed from the data.
Access to the data granted for scientific and teaching purposes. FSD's access application procedure.
Data Collector
Konu, Anne (University of Tampere. Tampere School of Public Health)
Lintonen, Tomi (University of Tampere. Tampere School of Public Health)
Kainulainen, Lauri (University of Tampere. Department of Computer Sciences)
Kivimäki, Hannu (University of Tampere. Department of Computer Sciences)
Finnish National Board of Education
Data Producer
Finnish National Board of Education
Pirkanmaa Hospital District
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
University of Tampere. Tampere School of Public Health
Juho Vainio Foundation
Collection Date
September 2008 - May 2009
Nation
Finland
Geographical Coverage
Finland
Analysis Unit
Individual
Universe
4-6 graders in Finnish schools
Sampling Procedure
No specific sampling method was used in data collection - instead, the respondents were pupils in schools 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, or from other schools. 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 pupils. The pupils then filled in the questionnaire, also providing the id code they had received. Only the responses with the id were saved. Thus, each pupil 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.
112 schools participated in the survey, and 6,255 pupils responded.
Research Instrument
Structured questionnaire
Time Method
Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section
Collection Size
Data: SPSS portable file. Data available also in other file formats.
Data version
1.0 (18.6.2009)
Other Material
Questionnaire: pdf file in Finnish
The Well-being Profile Website
Citation Requirement
The source must be acknowledged in any publication based wholly or in part on the data. The bibliographic citation may be in the form required by the publication, or in the form suggested by the archive.
Bibliographical Citation
Konu, Anne: School Well-being Profile 2008-2009: Primary School, Grades 4-6 [computer file]. FSD2422, version 1.0 (2009-06-18). Tampere: Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor], 2009.
Depositing Requirements
The archive must be informed of all publications where the data have been used.
Disclaimer
The depositor and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the secondary use of the data.
Related Publications
Konu Anne (2005). Hyvinvointiprofiili koulun kehittämisen välineenä [The Well-being Profile as a Tool for School Development]. Teoksessa Peltonen Heidi (toim.) Opiskelun tuki esi- ja perusopetuksessa. 2005. Opetushallitus, 256-265.
Konu Anne (2010). Koululaisten hyvinvoinnin arviointi ja alakoulujen hyvinvointi 2000-luvulla. [The Evaluation of the Well-being of Schoolchildren, and the Well-being of Elementary Schools during 21st Century] In Joronen K and Koski A: Tunne- ja sosiaalisten taitojen vahvistaminen kouluyhteisössä. Tampere: Tampere University Press, 13-32.
Konu Anne & Koivisto Anna-Maija (2011). The School Well-being Profile. A valid instrument for evaluation. In LG Chova, M Belenguer, AL Martinez: EDULEARN11 Publications. Barcelona 4th-6th of July 2011, pp. 1842-1850, IATED.
Konu Anne & Lintonen Tomi (2006). School well-being in Grades 4-12. Health Education Research 2006;21(5): 633-642.
Konu Anne & Lintonen Tomi (2006). Theory-based survey analysis of well-being in secondary schools in Finland. Health Promotion International 2006; 21(1): 27-36.
Konu Anne & Viitanen Elina & Lintonen Tomi (2010). Teachers' wellbeing and perceptions on leadership practices. Journal of Workplace Health Management, Vol. 3 Iss: 1, pp. 44-57.
Lintonen Tomi & Konu Anne (2006). The Well-being Profile: An Internet tool for school health promotion. Promot & Educ 2006; 8(4): 230-235.
