Over the past twenty years the States of Guernsey has worked with the School's Health Education Unit (SHEU) in Exeter to develop a profile of young people in Guernsey.
The Surveys have changed over the years. The original versions were paper-based and focused on health issues. These surveys have provided an important evidence base that has been used for a variety of purposes:
- To monitor trends amongst young people especially to measure developments over time.
- To benchmark the findings against other communities.
- To inform practice - the survey has been especially significant in shaping health-related activities such as the Drug and Alcohol Strategy, Participation of Young People in Sporting Activities, Developments in Personal Social and Health Education.
The most recent fully comprehensive survey was The Guernsey Young People's Survey which was undertaken in spring/ summer 2016. The year 12 survey was undertaken in January 2017. The key points to note are;
- 1500 pupils in Years 6, 8 and 10 answered 70 questions on behaviour, views and attitudes to life in Guernsey.
- Yr 6 aged 10 -11 years. Yr 8 aged 12 -13 years, Yr 10 aged 14-15 years,
- The survey was undertaken on-line in islands schools in spring/summer 2016.
- Comparisons are made with a similar survey undertaken in Guernsey in 2010 and 2013.
- 800 Post-16 students took part in the Post-16 survey
All of the results are published on this page.
We have published two full reports - one for secondary students and one for primary pupils produced by SHEU. We also have a summary presentation and two infographics booklets that present some of the findings and comparisons visually.
Every school has received their own results in a document as well.
The survey was administered by the Schools Health Education Unit. The unit is a leader in gathering evidence about the behaviour, views and attitudes of young people.This is what they say about the Guernsey survey.
"The Guernsey Young People's survey research team are to be congratulated for the care and attention given to collecting the latest set of data for young people across the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The survey was shaped to reflect current local priorities, without losing sight of the issues that face all young people today in our rapidly-changing world. Every school that took part gave the survey proper time and support, and their young people worked hard to explain what is going on in their lives
We can see a fantastic set of data going back to the 1990s and we know that this is much more than just a data collection exercise here, but has real impact at all levels. We know that the schools find their individual reports useful and that the Education Department and wider partners make good use of the island-wide figures
We see that, when compared with young people from the UK mainland, your young people have similar issues to deal with, particularly with the rise of social media and Internet activity in general
We are pleased to see that the reduction in levels of smoking and alcohol use across the UK is also mirrored in Guernsey. We are also happy to see that your young people still remain ahead of the rest of the UK in their levels of physical activity: perhaps this is one of the benefits of living in such a very agreeable place to be outside."
You can also watch a video outlining the key results and statistics from the 2016 survey.
