Study of Authoritative School Climate Enabling policies to reduce absenteeism and exclusion
About the study
This study aims to explore how school policies and practices shape school climate and their impact on student attendance and exclusions in secondary schools.
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.
During an initial scoping phase in 2024, we analysed school behaviour policies and their alignment with the theoretical framework of school climates. The study has been extended to gain a deeper understanding of these findings.
This extended phase’s objectives have changed from focussing on behaviour policies to gaining a broader understanding of a wider range of policies and practices that are used in schools.
What is the study looking at?
We are currently in the second scoping phase of the study. This phase aims to learn more about different types of policies and practices in schools, as well as to assess how well the behaviour policy survey worked and identify areas for improvement.
What does taking part involve?
We are inviting headteachers or behavioural leads that completed the behaviour policy survey in 2024 to take part in an interview. The interviews will last up to 60 minutes and will begin in March 2025.
The interview will discuss how school policies are put into practice and how effective they are in creating a particular school climate. We also want to find out how well our previous behaviour policy survey worked by talking to those who completed it.
Using this information, we aim to refine the survey to capture existing practices within schools.
If the findings from this scoping phase are promising, the study will progress to an impact evaluation to investigate the effects of school policies and practices on pupil exclusion and attendance.
Why take part?
This is an important study exploring the relationship between school policies and practices, school climates, and student outcomes. Your expertise will help us improve our survey and develop a better understanding of school practices, which will inform the rest of the research study.
To say thank you, we will give you a £50 voucher which can be spent on resources for your school, as a token of appreciation for giving your valuable time to help with our research.
Participation is voluntary
Participation in each element of the study is entirely voluntary. You can opt out of the study at any time by contacting a member of the research team via asce@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: 2025 ASCE 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 ASCE@natcen.ac.uk or by calling 0808 168 2790.