The Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Advocacy, Expectations, Belonging: Quadrants report shows the relationships between advocacy at school/sense of belonging (two measures of student wellbeing) and academic expectations of students, as self-reported by students.

Executive Directors and Directors, Educational Leadership can use this report to combine results for multiple schools in their Principal Network.

How will this report benefit me?

The charts within the report show the proportion of students who report combinations of high and/or low outcomes, represented as quadrants.

Each page provides a measure combination (Advocacy-Expectations or Belonging-Expectations). Quadrants show the proportion of students who fall into the combination categories (low-low; low-high; high-low; high-high), alongside the SSSG/state comparisons.

Schools can use this report to get an overview of how students’ reported experience of these key measures has changed over time. Executive Directors and Directors, Educational Leadership can view a rolled-up report for all schools within their Principal Network. Slicers can be used to drill down to see whether the proportion of students experiencing either high or low outcomes differs among groups of students or by scholastic grade.

How are the Advocacy-Expectations and Belonging-Expectations charts developed and what do they provide?

This two-page report presents the following information:

Page 1 – Advocacy-Expectations

The proportion of students who report high and/or low levels of advocacy at school and academic expectations.

Page 2 – Belonging-Expectations

The proportion of students who report high and/or low sense of belonging and academic expectations.

• Students who score 6 or more on the TTFM scale score are reported to have positive (high) outcomes, while those who score less than 6 are reported to have negative (low) outcomes.
• Each quadrant represents the proportion of students that fall into the combination category.
• High advocacy/belonging and high expectations (top right quadrant) is the optimum quadrant. The school(s) results are displayed in the green coloured box.
• Low advocacy/belonging and low expectations (bottom left quadrant) is the least optimal quadrant. The school(s) results are displayed in the red coloured box.
• Charts also display the SSSG and state average comparisons.

Each page of this report enables users to filter for:

• Executive Director Group
• Network Name
• School Name
• Calendar Years (2015 onwards)
• Scholastic Year
• Gender (as self-reported by students when completing the online TTFM survey)
• Aboriginality (as self-reported by students when completing the online TTFM survey)

How can I use this report to improve student outcomes and support my school self-assessment?

The two charts (Advocacy-Expectations and Belonging-Expectations) show different aspects of the relationship between wellbeing and high expectations and should be looked at together to gain a fuller picture of what’s happening in your school.

Students’ sense of belonging and their perceptions of advocacy at school are typically closely related to each other. Therefore, initiatives to improve one measure are likely to positively influence the other.

Evidence from NSW shows that successful schools can demonstrate high levels of sense of belonging, advocacy at school and academic expectations. A key strategy for improving both wellbeing measures includes the positive influence of teachers demonstrating high expectations for their students.

Sense of Belonging

School belonging refers to a student’s perception of being accepted, valued and included in their school setting by their peers and by others in the school. It is sometimes referred to as school connectedness or bonding to school.

Students’ feelings of belonging at school, alongside positive relationships with peers and teachers, are essential for student wellbeing. These relationships are characterised by constructive interactions that provide genuine support for students and help them build social and emotional skills.

CESE research shows the importance of students having a positive sense of belonging at primary and secondary school and highlights the relationships between a student’s sense of belonging and other measures of engagement.

Expectations for Success

Expectations for Success is a measure of classroom context and refers to the extent to which teachers value academic achievement and hold high expectations of all students. High expectations are effective for learning for all types of students and schools. Supportive classroom environments, in which students experience consistent, clear and high expectations and receive help from teachers and peers, promote the engagement of all students.

CESE’s 'What Works Best' publication highlights how high expectations are an important driver for student performance. Longitudinal research using TTFM data shows the positive effect of high expectations on NAPLAN performance and engagement in high school. This publication also provides practical strategies to increase levels of academic expectations.

Advocacy at School (available 2016 onwards)

In an education context, advocacy and support for learning at school refer to the active consideration and support of individual students’ academic and wellbeing needs. This encompasses general support and specific supportive behaviours that help students navigate the everyday course of school life.

CESE’s publication ‘Support for Learning’ explores the provision of advocacy and support for students and how this varies for different groups of students at different stages of school. The accompanying resources, case studies and audiobooks provide schools with practical strategies to increase the advocacy at school measures.

For the full range of TTFM data, schools should continue to access their survey results via the TTFM portal.

Where does this data come from?

The results come from the Tell Them From Me student surveys, snapshot 1 (Term 1) data.

To protect student confidentiality, data suppression rules are applied to charts where fewer than five students answer a question. Using the slicers to drill down on the data will reduce the cohort size and may result in data suppression for smaller schools.

How frequently is data updated?

Annually.