The wellbeing and engagement collection survey asks young people how they think and feel about their experiences, both inside and outside of school. 

The survey is split into 4 key areas with questions relating to:

• emotional wellbeing
• engagement with school
• engagement in learning
• health and wellbeing out of school.

A description of the survey topics is included under the heading for each key area.

Emotional wellbeing 

The survey asks students in years 4 to 12 to rate different aspects of their social and emotional wellbeing. The questions in this part of the survey collect information about students’: 

• happiness: general feeling of happiness, cheer and contentment with life 
• optimism: having a mindset of positive expectations about the future
• satisfaction with life: how content or satisfied children are with their lives
• emotion regulation: having the ability to manage the experience of positive and negative feelings
• sadness: how frequently young people feel unhappy or upset
• worries: how often young people worry about different aspects of life.

Questions about these topics are only included in the senior years (years 10 to 12) survey:

• distress: how frequently young people felt distressed in the past month
• resilience: young people’s beliefs about their capacity to recover from difficulties and challenges.

Engagement with school

The survey asks young people about their views on belonging at school and their relationships with peers, teachers, and other school staff. The questions in this part of the survey ask students about: 

• important adults at school: identify whether there are adults at school they see as 'important'
• connectedness to school: having at least 1 adult at school who provides support to a young person
• emotional engagement with teachers: support and relationships with teachers
• school climate: overall tone of the school environment, including the way teachers and students interact and how students treat each other 
• school belonging: the degree to which young people feel connected and valued at their school 
• peer belonging: feeling that they belong to a social group
• friendship intimacy: quality of social support from peers
• physical bullying: student perceptions of the frequency of experiencing physical bullying at school (for example being hit, shoved, kicked, spat at, physically injured or having things taken without permission)
• verbal bullying: student perceptions of the frequency of experiencing verbal bullying at school (for example being called names, teased, humiliated, threatened)
• social bullying: student perceptions of the frequency of experiencing social bullying at school (for example being left out, excluded, gossiped about or made to look foolish)
• cyberbullying: student perceptions of the frequency of experiencing cyberbullying at school (for example feeling excluded, threatened, humiliated or hurt via electronic communication).

Engagement in learning

The survey asks about how students see themselves as learners. The questions in this part of the survey ask students about their: 

• perseverance: having the tenacity to stick with things and pursue goals, despite challenges that arise
• cognitive engagement: persistence with classroom tasks, generating ideas and attitudes related to holding a growth mindset 
• academic self-concept: perceptions of themselves as students and how interested and confident they feel at school.

Questions about these topics are only included in the senior years (years 10 to 12) survey:

• learning practices: beliefs about personal learning styles, organisational skills and capacity to complete schoolwork 
• meeting expectations: young people’s perceptions of how well they perform against personal goals and aims 
• expectations for success: levels of expectations young people set for themselves 
• motivation to achieve goals: how confident young people are that they can achieve their goals 
• future goal planning: young people’s beliefs about their ability to plan for the future and pursue their goals
• feelings about the future: young people’s feelings when thinking about the future 
• feelings about after school study or work: how confident young people are that they can achieve their study or work goals after school. 

Health and wellbeing out of school

The wellbeing and engagement collection survey asks for students’ views about their physical health, sleep, nutrition, and participation in activities out of school, including: 

• overall health: an overall assessment of a young person’s physical health ranging from poor to excellent
• nutrition – breakfast: how many days the young person ate breakfast during a week 
• sleep: young people’s usual bed-time on weekdays and how often the young person slept well 
• music and arts: participation in music or arts and craft activities after school 
• sports: participation in organised or team sports after school, for example basketball, swimming, football, netball 
• organised activities: participation in organised activities after school for example sports, music, arts and craft.

Questions about this topic are only included in the senior years (years 10 to 12) survey:

• feelings about your body: young people’s feelings when thinking about the way they look.