Overview
The Pupil Attitudes to Self and School (PASS) is a short self-evaluation survey that may be used to gain insight into attitudes that could be hindering achievement. It can capture feelings about school and teachers, and help to detect possible barriers to learning, including issues around confidence, resilience, motivation, concentration, disaffection and alienation.
Psychometric properties
No peer-reviewed studies of reliability or validity currently identified.
Suitability
Pupils and students 4 to 18+ years of age.
Translation
Available in a range of languages, including Welsh (GL Assessment 2016).
Administration
Completed online at www.testingforschools.com. Each student will need a computer or laptop with access to the internet, headphones and a mouse. Pupils read and comment on 50 statements and the survey session takes approximately 20-30 minutes. See GL Assessment (2013) for further administration instructions, including reference to a script for introducing PASS to students.
Scoring and interpretation
The survey is comprised of 9 attitudinal factors:
- Feelings about school
- Perceived learning capability
- Self-regard, as a learner
- Preparedness for learning
- Attitudes to teachers
- General work ethic
- Confidence in learning
- Attitudes to attendance
- Response to curriculum demands
The 9 attitudinal factors can be analysed separately and responses can be converted to standardised scores through comparison with national norms (GL Assessment 2017a).
Terms of use
PASS is available for purchase from GL Assessment (www.gl-assessment.co.uk).
Further information
“The survey has been standardised against a representative national sample of more than 600,000 respondents and has been used by over 2,500 schools across the UK as well as over 100 Local Authorities” (GL Assessment 2017b).
References
GL Assessment (2013) PASS - Pupil Attitudes to Self and School - Administration Instructions. https://www.gl-assessment.co.uk/media/1449/pass_admin_instructions.pdf (accessed 12 May 2017).
GL Assessment (2016) Assessment in Focus - Assessing students with English as an additional language. https://www.gl-assessment.co.uk/media/1799/ainf-eal.pdf (accessed 12 May 2017).
GL Assessment (2017a) PASS - Pupil Attitudes to Self and School - Primary and Secondary Sample Reports. https://www.gl-assessment.co.uk/media/2354/gl1661-pass-sample-reports.pdf (accessed 12 May 2017).
GL Assessment (2017b) Pupil Attitudes to Self and School (PASS). https://www.gl-assessment.co.uk/products/pupil-attitudes-to-self-and-school-pass/ (accessed 12 May 2017).