Are teachers' views in sync with those of students and parents? In most
instances, teachers are less positive about the overall quality of their students' lives.
In particular, nine in ten students and parents report that students have a lot of friends
and get along well with their parents. Yet, teachers report that only three-quarters
(72%) of their students have a lot of friends and only two-thirds (64%) get along well
with their parents. However, in contrast to student reports, they believe that only
21% of their students often feel sad and unhappy and that the same proportion are
always bored.
Exhibit 3.1
Students', Parents' and Teachers' Views on Quality of Life
Student Base: All students
Parent Base: Secondary school parents
Teacher Base: All teachers
% "A lot/Somewhat Like [Me/My Child]" (Students/parents)
Mean % of Students (Teachers)
Students
Parents
Teachers
Base . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3961 . . . . . . . . .855 . . . . . . . . .1010
%
%
%
Have a lot of friends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 . . . . . . . . . . .90 . . . . . . . . . . .72
Get along well with parents . . . . . . . . . .88 . . . . . . . . . . .93 . . . . . . . . . . .64
Are always bored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 . . . . . . . . . . .45 . . . . . . . . . . .21
Often feel sad and unhappy . . . . . . . . . .33 . . . . . . . . . . .21 . . . . . . . . . . .21
Are happy at school this year . . . . . . . . .78 . . . . . . . . . . .77 . . . . . . . . . . .74
Get into trouble a lot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 . . . . . . . . . . .14 . . . . . . . . . . .15
Feel safe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89 . . . . . . . . . . .87 . . . . . . . . . . .83
Seven measures of quality of life were used to calculate an overall Quality of Life
Index for each student (Exhibits 3.2-3.3): having friends, getting along with parents,
being happy at school, feeling safe, being bored, feeling sad and unhappy, and getting
into trouble a lot. Girls and boys are equally likely to have a high quality of life, as
are non-minority and minority students. However, students who report that their
family has a hard time buying the things they need are more than twice as likely as
those who say that their family has enough money to buy pretty much anything they
want to have a low quality of life (65% vs. 24%). Quality of life is also associated with
students' confidence in achieving their goals for the future. Students who are not
confident about achieving their goals are almost four times as likely as those who are
very confident to have a low quality of life (84% vs. 23%).
38
