Information for teachers: cohort 2023
Information for teachers invited to take part
As you may be aware, the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) is carrying out an evaluation of ‘Send Me A Pic?’, an education resource that aims to develop young people’s knowledge and awareness of nude image based abuse. We are doing this work on behalf of the National Crime Agency (NCA) who developed ‘Send Me a Pic?’. The research will help the NCA to ensure that the teaching materials it provides to schools are as useful as possible for young people.
As part of the evaluation, we are carrying out a range of research activities with staff and pupils in schools across England, and would like to invite you to share your views and experiences as a member of staff who delivers Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) lessons. This leaflet sets out key information about the research for you to decide whether you would be willing to take part.
Who is carrying out this research?
NatCen is an independent, not-for-profit organisation working to improve people’s lives through research. Our work helps to inform public services, charities, the government and other organisations.
The research was commissioned by the NCA. The NCA is an independent government body and developed the ‘Send Me a Pic?’ education resource.
What is this research about?
‘Send Me a Pic?’ aims to develop young people’s knowledge and awareness of what nude image based abuse is, its impacts on victims/survivors, and appropriate strategies to respond to these situations. The resource comprises four fully planned lessons and accompanying materials for children aged 11 to 14, delivered by teachers responsible for RSE. The lessons use short film clips of simulated text conversations to introduce and navigate relevant hypothetical situations.
The evaluation will compare key outcomes among young people who receive the ‘Send Me a Pic?’ lessons with those receiving standard RSE lessons, to determine whether the lessons improve young people’s’ knowledge and awareness around nude image based abuse. The evaluation will also explore how the lessons are provided in schools, including facilitators and barriers to delivery. Its findings will help the NCA to maximise the usefulness of the resources it provides to schools.
Participating schools across England will be randomly allocated to one of two groups to enable the evaluation to draw robust comparisons and measure impacts that may be identified, using data collected from pupils and staff. Schools in Group 1 will deliver four ‘Send Me a Pic?’ lessons during the spring term of 2024. Schools in Group 2 will deliver RSE lessons as normal and will receive the ‘Send Me a Pic?’ resources in summer 2024 instead.
Why are you contacting me?
Your school has chosen to be involved in this important research. Up to two Year 8 and Year 9 classes have been randomly selected by NatCen to be involved, including the class/es to which you deliver RSE lessons.
To gather your views and experiences of the lessons for these classes, we would like to invite you to take part in two short surveys. To understand how the lessons work in practice, you may also be asked to allow a researcher to visit a ‘Send Me a Pic?’ lesson that you are delivering and to take part in an interview.
If your school has nominated you as its lead contact for this research, we will be in touch separately about other light administrative activities. These comprise sharing introductory information about the evaluation with parents/carers and pupils, ensuring any children whose parents have opted them out from the research do not take part in evaluation activities, securely sharing key data with the research team, and facilitating pupils’ completion of the online surveys.
What does taking part involve for teachers?
All teachers who participate in this research will complete short survey questionnaires – once at the beginning of the evaluation, and then again at the end. We would like you to take part in both surveys, so that we can compare responses before and after delivery of the ‘Send Me a Pic?’ lessons. The surveys will be sent directly to you for completion online, which will take about 10 minutes.
- The first survey will be completed this autumn. It will ask about what usual teaching practice for RSE of year 8 and 9 pupils looks like in your school.
- A second online survey will be completed at the end of the evaluation. This survey will gather your views and experiences of delivering RSE and/or ‘Send Me a Pic?’ lessons (as applicable) in the evaluation period.
To understand more about implementation and pupils’ and teachers’ views and experiences of the lessons, we will also invite a small number of schools in Group 1 to take part in some additional evaluation activities. In each of the selected schools, these will include up to two lesson visits/observations, individual interviews with up to two teachers, and two small focus groups with pupils. The purpose of the lesson visit and interview is to understand how the lessons work in practice and to understand your experiences of delivering the lessons.
Taking part in these elements of the research is entirely voluntary, even if you take part in the teacher surveys. More detail about the lesson visits and interviews will be provided closer to the time.
Do I have to take part?
No – it’s entirely up to you. Your school has agreed to be part of the research, but there is no obligation for individuals to be involved and the decision to participate is yours to make. Your choice will not affect your relationship with NatCen, the NCA, or any other organisation now or in the future.
If you don’t want to take part in any element of the research, you can let us know using the contact details at the end of this leaflet.
If you choose to go ahead and take part in the surveys, you are free to skip any questions you would prefer not to answer and can stop at any time. You can also change your mind after completing your survey and withdraw your data by contacting the research team using the details below.
If you are invited to take part in an observation and/or interview, participation is completely voluntary – even if you are already taking part in the teacher survey. You do not need to make a decision about those activities now – we will provide more information nearer the time to inform your choice.
Will anyone else find out what I have told you?
If you take part, NatCen will treat all data you provide as confidential and anonymous. Neither you nor your school will be identified to anyone outside the research team, and we will not tell anyone the details of what you say.
The only exception to confidentiality would be if a researcher became aware of a risk of serious harm to you or someone else you identified. In this case, NatCen might have to disclose this information to other agencies, which might include the school, the local authority, or the police. Details would be shared even if you withdrew from the research.
What happens to the data collected for this project?
The information that we collect will be used for evaluation purposes only. A report of the findings from the evaluation will be provided to the NCA and will be published. No individual pupil, teacher, or school will be identifiable in this report. We may quote individual participants in research outputs, such as the final report, but we will not use names or include any details that could identify anybody who has taken part, or their school, in any way. All details will be fully anonymised.
All confidential information relating to this research will be kept securely in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Personal information and any other data held on the project will be stored securely for research purposes and then securely deleted once the evaluation is complete. Further information of how we will use and store personal information is provided in the privacy notice, which can be accessed at https://natcen.ac.uk/evaluation-send-me-pic-privacy-notice.
Next steps
If you are happy to take part in the research, or have any questions about it, please let us know – either directly or through the colleague who gave you this leaflet.
You can contact the NatCen research team at smap-evaluation@natcen.ac.uk or on Freephone 0808 168 8519.
Further information about the research is also available at https://natcen.ac.uk/sendmeapic.