School Climate Study 2025
About the study
Schools vary in the practices they use to obtain the best behaviour and learning outcomes for pupils. This study explores how school policies practices shape school climates and, in turn, pupil outcomes. School climate refers to how a school feels, its values or ethos, and the ways people interact with each other.
Funded by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), and the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF), the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is conducting this research in collaboration with educational psychologists from University College London to explore the relationship between school policies and practices, climate, and student outcomes.
What does taking part involve?
Taking part involves completing a web survey that typically takes about 15-20 minutes to complete.
- Headteachers’ (or another member of the school leadership team) surveys contain questions about the practices you promote for use in your school and your perceptions of the school climate.
- Classroom teachers’ surveys contain questions about your experience of implementing practices and your perceptions of the school climate.
- Pupils’ surveys contain questions about your experience of the school climate.
All responses are confidential, and no school or individual will be identifiable in any published outputs.
The following links contain further information about the study for headteachers, teachers, parents, and pupils.
- Information for headteachers,
- Information for teachers,
- Information for parents,
- Information for pupils.
Why take part?
By taking part, your school will help build new evidence on what works in creating climates that enable better outcomes for pupils. The insights will directly contribute to research funded by the EEF and YEF, helping policymakers, researchers, and schools better understand how policies and practices influence pupil behaviour, attendance and learning.
Participation is voluntary
Participation in each element of the study is entirely voluntary. You can choose not to complete the questionnaires we send you and there will be no negative consequences if you do so. You can withdraw your consent up to two weeks after taking part by contacting a member of the research team via SchoolClimate@natcen.ac.uk.
Who are NatCen?
The National Centre for Social Research have been carrying out social research for over 50 years. We are a non-profit organisation, independent of all government departments and political parties.
Privacy notice
We take great care to protect the confidentiality of the information people give us. To find out more about how your personal information will be used in this study, please see the full privacy notice here: School Climate Study 2025 Privacy notice.
Contact us
We are happy to answer any questions you have about the study which are not covered here. Please contact us at SchoolClimate@natcen.ac.uk or by calling 0808 168 2790.