Education survey: Questions, templates, and examples

Get needed feedback with our free education survey templates.

One of the best ways for educators to better understand the needs of their students is with an education survey. Online surveys aren't just for big businesses. They also come in handy in the education field. Insights from such questionnaires can be used to help students succeed at school and are ideal for every type of school, from preschool to college. Discover how to use education surveys to improve your school.

Ways to use education survey questions

Know how students feel about school or which teachers are most admired? An education questionnaire has many different uses, but most importantly, it can help gather honest feedback that can't be discovered any other way. Allowing students, parents, and teachers an opportunity to voice their opinions anonymously can help steer a school in the right direction.

Get parents involved

When parents aren't involved with their children's education or there are problems at home, a student's grades often suffer. By sending parents a questionnaire, educators can ascertain if there are ways to better accommodate certain students who may need extra help. Survey questions can also ask about the involvement level of parents in their child's studies. Such surveys can alert both private and public schools to the need to reach out to parents requiring advice or ideas to better support their child's education.

Track the health and habits of students

What goes on outside of school can have a big impact in the classroom. For instance, children who don't burn off energy with exercise might act up or have a hard time focusing in class. An education survey that asks about outside-of-school habits can help educators implement new courses or programs that will benefit students' well-being.

Surveys about online learning can help track potential changes in the study habits of students during periods away from in-person schooling. This can help collect valuable data about the future organization of classes.

Take care of teachers' mental health

When teachers and staff feel satisfied and supported at work, they do a better job and are less likely to quit. Retaining high-quality teachers is one of the best ways to help students receive an excellent education. Surveys can help examine how educators feel and what could make them feel more inspired and satisfied with their work.

Better understand student learning styles with surveys

Not every student learns the same way. Some prefer lectures with visuals, while others need more hands-on learning experiences. By sending students a learner survey that asks about their preferred learning style, teachers have a better chance of understanding the most effective way to reach students. This leads to more class engagement, better retention, and higher grades. Online learning surveys are simple to create and not too demanding for respondents. We recommend you try them.

Measure student satisfaction

Measure student satisfaction with questionnaires about teacher performance. It's just as important to know how motivated students are about attending their school as it is to understand how satisfied teachers are. A good starting point is a student satisfaction survey that detects the overall happiness level of students. With quality education surveys, students can express everything from their opinions about teachers to program quality to campus safety. Does a school need more extracurricular activities or different elective courses? Education surveys can provide all the insight, information, and data that schools need to help students be more productive at school.

Learn more about student surveys

Obtain teacher and course feedback

If a school has an amazing teacher but a not-so-amazing course, administrators need to know. The more positive students feel about their instructors and courses, the more likely they are to stay engaged and do well. A questionnaire regarding teacher performance can provide information about which instructors and courses students favor and those needing improvement. With quality questions, the exact changes necessary to improve teacher and course satisfaction can be determined.

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Academic surveys

To deepen knowledge about a particular subject, then academic surveys are invaluable. Coming up with a hypothesis is hard enough. A well-designed survey—with carefully constructed questions—will provide the opportunity to test how viable a hypothesis actually is.

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Student surveys for teachers

Teachers benefit greatly from education surveys. At the end of every semester, students have the opportunity to complete a feedback survey about what interested them the most, what they enjoyed about the class, and how their teacher can improve in the future. This type of feedback helps teachers better meet the needs of students and continuously improve over time.

Learn more about teacher surveys

Dissertation surveys

One of the most powerful tools for getting valuable insights and data for the culmination of your research are dissertation surveys. Though a stressful and time-consuming task, useful data from a representative sample that can be analyzed and presented as part of your dissertation is invaluable. At SurveyPlanet, we’re committed to making it as easy and stress-free as possible to use such powerful tools.

Learn more about dissertation surveys

Question teachers about teaching

Are educators and staff happy with their jobs? Are they set up for success? By questioning teachers and faculty, administrators can garner needed information to better support them.

Sending a periodical teacher satisfaction survey is an easy way to check in with staff and discover areas that need improvement.

With the increased use of online learning, our templates include examples of survey questions for teachers about online learning that will help heighten the quality of online classes.

Learn more about online education surveys by reading our blog about the how to make a questionnaire regarding the impact of eLearning.

Best practices for education surveys

To gain the most insight, it's important to understand best practices. Setting a specific goal for a survey is a good start. Although it might feel tempting to cover a wide range of topics with one survey, doing so often leads to survey completion rates. Find out what is a good survey response rate by reading our blog about the subject.

Staying on topic with quality questions will help respondents provide valuable information—accurately and quickly. Our guidelines on creating an engaging survey will help you do so.

Online education questionnaires are powerful resources for gathering data; the ultimate goal is improving a school's performance. Data collection is only the first step. With the help of our blog, learn how to analyze survey data and interpret the findings.

It's a best practice to use a consistent rating scale for questions. Instead of a yes/no response option for every question, give respondents a range to choose from. Scaled answers will provide more insight and make it easier to analyze responses.

Finally, don't forget to test a survey before sending it out. Ask other faculty members to do so to ensure it corresponds well with your audience and doesn't contain errors.

To sum things up, education survey best practices include:

  • Set a specific goal
  • Stay on topic with questions
  • Use a consistent rating scale for questions
  • Test your survey before sending it out

Create great educational surveys for teachers, students, or academics with SurveyPlanet

To create free education surveys for teachers, K12, college students, or academics, sign up with SurveyPlanet to explore limitless survey creation and ideation possibilities.

We provide all the assistance needed to create engaging and fun surveys. From free templates to advanced features—such as pre-written questions, custom themes, and our blog—we have prepared the ultimate resource for online survey creation.

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