FAQs for mothers, fathers and parental carers

Find answers to your questions about taking part as a father, mother or parental carer to a child who is part of Five to Twelve
Image of a family

How do I take part now?
How was I chosen for this study?
What's involved?
Your child
The online or telephone interview
What if I only live with my child some of the time or my child lives at a different address to me?
What if I need help to complete the survey?
Will anyone know what I say?
How will teachers and schools be involved?
Who is carrying out the study?
Who has approved this research?
What will happen to the information I give?
Do I have to take part?
What if I change my mind after the interview?
Where can I use my voucher?
Who do I contact if I still have questions, want to seek further information, or verify the research?
What if I have moved or my contact details or those of another parent/parental carer have changed?
 

How do I take part now?

If you’ve been invited to this study, you should have received a letter and leaflet explaining how to take part. If you can’t find these, you can find them at the  Documents for Participating Families page. Alternatively, get in touch with us at Freephone 0800 652 4568, or at FiveToTwelve@natcen.ac.uk.

Please note that a leaflet was not sent to parents who live separately from their child (for all or most of the time) because contact details were obtained during the survey with the child's other parent.

How was I chosen for this study?

You will have been invited to Five to Twelve if your child and at least one of their parents or parental carers very kindly took part in the study in its first year (2023-2024) when your child was in Year 1, or if you are now the primary caregiver for a child who is enrolled in the study. Now in its second year, Five to Twelve is a longitudinal study, which is following children as they go through primary school in England.

The study is looking at the experiences of children and their families all over England. We are now inviting children and their fathers, mothers and parental carers to the second year of Five to Twelve, now that their children are a year older and in Year 2 of primary school (children no longer enrolled at school can still take part). These children and families are  part of a group that will represent all children in their particular age group. Children were randomly selected from the National Pupil Database (NPD), held by the Department for Education, which holds details of all pupils in state education in England.

Around 8,500 families took part in Year 1 of Five to Twelve. Thousands of teachers also very kindly took part.

What's involved?

We would like to invite you to fill in an online questionnaire, which should take between 15 and 30 minutes. To do this, you can use your own personal access code (included on the email and/or letter sent to you) to access the questionnaire here: survey.natcen.ac.uk/FiveToTwelveY2 

If you are not able to participate online, don't worry - we may call you to invite you to take part over the phone. You can also call us to let us know if you would prefer to take part over the phone, on 0800 652 4568. 

Like last year, we will also invite your child’s other parent(s) / carer(s) to take part. We will ask you to confirm their details when you start the questionnaire. Like last year, we will also invite your child’s other parent(s) / parental carer(s) (who live with your child or have been in contact with them at some point over the previous 12 months) to take part. We will ask you to confirm their details when you start the questionnaire. Each person takes part separately and will not see the responses given by anyone else in your child's family.

It is important that we hear from every father, mother and/or parental carer living with or in contact with each child, to make sure that all perspectives are represented and that we get a well-rounded picture of each child's life and school experiences. This includes fathers and mothers who live separately for all or most of the time, and those who did not take part in this research study last year

Five to Twelve is a longitudinal study, which means we will ask you to tell us how your child is getting on over several years. This means we will be following up with you again as your child gets older. 

Taking part is completely voluntary. If you do take part, you can choose not to answer any question, and you can change your mind and withdraw from the study at any time. 

We will get back in touch with you when it is time to take part again. Please let us know here if your contact details change, or the contact details of your child's other parent/s or parental carer change.

Your child

In the first year of Five to Twelve, we chose your child at random using data from the Department for Education’s National Pupil Database. This is to make sure we have a truly representative picture of primary school children in England throughout the study. After you took part in the first year of Five to Twelve, we are following up now that your child is older. Your child and your views are extremely important to us: your child cannot be replaced by another child. Every child in the study is unique and we are looking forward to hearing how things are going for you and your child as your child grows up.

The online survey or telephone interview

You can easily go online to do the survey using the access code and link provided on your invitation letter or email.

There’s no need to prepare for the survey or interview. You don’t need any special knowledge; we just want to find out about the lives of you and your child. Most people enjoy taking part. Your questionnaire may not contain all these topics, as some might be answered by a different parent of your child. You do not need to answer any questions that you are not able to or do not want to answer.

Topics covered in this survey (where relevant to you) include:

  • Your child’s infancy, including childcare, such as birth weight and health before the age of five
  • Your child’s experience of school
  • Their activities, such as after-school clubs, outside of school
  • Their health and any special educational needs
  • Time spent together with your child
  • Your home environment including use of technology
  • Your relationship with your child and (where relevant) their other parent/s
  • Your health and wellbeing
  • Your finances, living situation and use of public services

The telephone interview covers the same topics as the online survey.

Each person takes part separately and will not see the responses given by anyone else in your child's family.

What if I live with my child some (but not all) of the time or my child lives at a different address to me?

As part of this study, we need to understand how all fathers, mothers and parental carers make a difference in children’s lives. So we would like all parents living with or in contact with each child to complete an online survey (or telephone interview), including where the child doesn’t live with you at all, or lives with you for some of the time. Up to three parents can take part for each child.. The survey will ask about your living situation, your health and wellbeing, your education and employment (where relevant), and your time with your child.

No information about whether or not you participate, or any details of anything you say, will be passed to your child or their other parent(s). Everything stays strictly confidential. Taking part in Five to Twelve will not impact your child maintenance payments or any state benefits you receive.

What if I need help to complete the survey?

If you need help to complete the survey, please call us on 0800 652 4568. You can do the interview over the phone if you prefer, just let us know.

Will anyone know what I say?

Each person will take part in the study separately and will not know about the responses given by anyone else in the study, including other parent(s) of their child.

All answers will be kept confidential and anonymous, and shared only with researchers working on the study. It’s up to you if you want to talk to other people about what you tell us.

How will teachers and schools be involved?

If you, as the child’s mother/father/parental carer, give us your permission, we will also contact your child’s teacher to ask them some questions. This is so that we can ask them about the child’s experiences at school, which will help us get a more complete picture of their life and understand how school impacts on children’s experiences. You can still be part of the study without agreeing to your child’s teacher taking part.

Who is carrying out the study?

The study is being carried out by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), the largest independent social research organisation in Britain, commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE). We work in collaboration with the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) and the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).   

Who has approved this research?

The study has been reviewed by an independent group of people called a Research Ethics Committee, to protect your safety, rights, wellbeing and dignity. This study has been given ethical approval by the NatCen Research Ethics Committee A (Reference no. P17959).

What will happen to the information I give?

Once we have collected all the answers from everyone who takes part, they will be looked at together as a group, anonymously. By this, we mean that there will be no names attached to the answers, and we will not know which person said what. We will then write up the findings into published reports, which cannot identify anyone who took part. To make the answers you give us even more useful we will attach them to data held by your child’s school. Just like with the other information you give us; this will be done in such a way so that you can’t be identified in the data. There are more details in our privacy notice.

Do I have to take part?

No. We really hope that you will take part and give your views but if you don’t want to, that’s fine. You can stop the interview at any point and you do not need to answer any questions which you do not want to answer.

What if I change my mind after I complete the survey?

If you change your mind after completing the survey, or if you no longer want your information to be processed, please get in touch with us as soon as possible using our contact details. 

In these cases, it may be possible to remove individual responses. However, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), where your data is processed under Article 6(1)(e) “processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller”, requests to withdraw your answers at a later date (for example, months or years after the interview) will not be possible. Attempts at withdrawing your information later on would impair the analysis of the results in a robust and consistent way, and therefore reduce the functionality of the study.

Where can I use my voucher?

Your Love2Shop voucher can be spent in a wide range of over 80 high street brands across the UK, including Argos, Boots and M&S. A full list is available at http://www.love2shop.co.uk/. 

If you have a physical gift card, this is activated and ready to use when you receive it. If you have a digital e-gift card, you will need to activate this at https://www.love2shoprewards.co.uk/login.php. 

Who do I contact if I still have questions, want to seek further information, or verify the research?

As the study progresses, we will keep in touch with study families and will send you updates about what we have found out so far.

The National Centre for Social Research are delivering the study and can answer any questions you may have about the research and your participation. You can contact us using our contact details.

To contact the Department for Education, you can call the main helpline on 0370 000 2288 (Mon-Fri, 9.30am-5pm) or submit your question online at the Gov.uk website. Please quote Five to Twelve study.

What if I have moved or my contact details or those of another parent/parental carer have changed? 

We will get back in touch with you when it is time to take part again. Please let us know if your contact details change, or the contact details of your child’s other parent(s) or parental carer change.

You can contact us at fivetotwelve@natcen.ac.uk or call us on 0800 652 4568.