School / Learning Space Safety

This indicator measures perceptions of safety both in and en route to/from schools and learning spaces, according to education stakeholders (children, teachers and other related staff). These feelings of safety, if compared between the project baseline to endline, can be used as a measure of project impact on safety/perceived safety.

1) Collect the following data by conducting key informant interviews or surveys with a representative sample of the children, teachers and education personnel at the school or learning space.

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

Q1: How safe do you feel on the way to your school or learning space?

A1: Very safe / Safe / Neutral / Unsafe / Very Unsafe

Q1.1: If unsafe or very unsafe, why?

A1.1: (open response)

Q2: How safe do you feel in your school or learning space?

A2: Very safe / Safe / Neutral / Unsafe / Very Unsafe

Q2.1: If unsafe or very unsafe, why?

A2.1: (open response)

2) If using the recommended survey questions, either provide the children/teachers or staff with the options provided or use a visual scale (see Additional Guidance below). This is particularly useful for low literacy staff, those with specific types of disabilities or children. Make sure to also provide a ‘don’t know’ response if using the visual scale (i.e. either verbally or using non-verbal cues i.e. a shrug).

3) To calculate the overall percentage, divide the number of surveyed children, teachers, and other staff who report feeling safe in school or learning space and on the way to/from school or learning space (only those who answered very safe or safe to both questions) by the total number of surveyed children, teachers, and other staff in the school or learning space. Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

4) If collecting baseline and endline data, try to do so consistently at the same time each year or learning cycle – for example, if baseline data is collected in the first week of the school semester in the first year, collect it in the same period the next year; or ensure that baseline data is collected before or at the very beginning of the start of the school year/non-formal education (NFE) cycle and the endline data is collected in the last week of the school year/semester/NFE cycle. Where the action /activity being measured continues or builds on a previous project or intervention, consider utilising the previous data as a baseline or to measure ongoing change and impact over a longer time period).

Disaggregate by children/teachers/other staff, age group, gender, level of education, type of learning space, ethnicity, mother tongue, wealth quintile, disability, displacement status and/or other specific vulnerable groups, as relevant. Data can also be disaggregated by feeling of safety in school or learning space versus feeling of safety on the way to the school or learning space.

Disaggregation of data by disability type should use the Washington Group Short Set on Functioning (or for actions with specialised responses to disabilities use the complete WG/UNICEF Child Functioning Module) or equivalent.

1) This is INEE Indicator 2.5.

2) This indicator should only be used, and questions surrounding perceptions of school or learning space safety asked, if the project/intervention plans to address safety concerns that arise from data collection.

3) To ensure a safe space where respondents can provide examples or reasons to their answers, ensure that the feedback is collected by same-sex enumerators.

4) When asking about school or learning space safety through a survey, provide a range of response options (i.e. a scale rather than Yes/No responses). Ensure to follow up any questions (noting the above mentioned Do No Harm principles) to better understand the reasons why respondents feel safe or unsafe.

5) When the responses to either of the questions is ‘unsafe’ or ‘very unsafe’, ask the respondent if he/she wants to comment on the reasons behind the answer. If the respondent does not want to answer the question, inform the respondent that he/she can also inform us about the reasons through one of the Community Feedback and Response Mechanism (CFRM) channels in place.

6) When collecting feedback from younger children, consider using a more child friendly approach to the above questions. For example, using smiley face flashcards (see Additional Guidance) or getting children to rank their feeling of safety against a traffic light scale (red – unsafe, orange – neutral, green – safe).

7) Note that probing questions about safety and perceptions of safety can be highly sensitive in many contexts and can expose respondents to potential harm. Ensure to take measures to Do No Harm through the data collection process.

8) Related indicators:

     INEE

        - 2.6 % of targeted learning spaces that meet education access, quality, and safety standards for infrastructure (see Adequate School or Learning Space Infrastructure)

     ECHO

        - KRI: Number of learning spaces/schools set up or rehabilitated restored to minimum standards for safe learning

     UNRWA

        - % of students reporting that they have experienced physical and/or verbal abuse from UNRWA educational personnel

        - % of students reporting that they have experienced bullying (physical and/or verbal) and/or harassment from other students

     Child Protection Minimum Standards (CPMS)

        - 23.2.8 % of formal and non-formal learning centres previously identified as unsafe according to safety criteria that are upgraded to meet safety requirements

     IndiKit

        - number of essential service providers and infrastructure with an improved protection against the most likely hazards (see Protection of Services / Infrastructure Against Hazards indicator)