Analysing the attitude and opinions of a ‘difficult’ year group in a secondary school

This paper reports a small-scale action research project aimed at helping a school whose teachers were concerned about the behaviour and achievement of their Year 8 group. Two focus group was used to identify any worries or concerns of pupils in Key Stage 3 (Years 7–9; aged 11–14). These concerns were further explored using a ranking exercise completed by all 486 pupils across the three year groups. The same pupils then completed the ‘Psychological Sense of School Membership’ questionnaire. The results of the ranking exercise are reported. The pupils’ scores on the PSSM questionnaire suggests that pupils in Year 8 identified least with the aims of the school. The scores did show that a third (33%) of the pupils in Year 8 scored at a level regarded as ‘of serious concern’ on the PSSM questionnaire indicating a negative view of the school. The results of the both exercises were shared with the teachers and a plan drawn up to improve the school's pupil management. Further development of this initiative was bought to a halt by the closure of the school in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.