The Scottish Government

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CHAPTER EIGHT: DISTRIBUTION

One key issue to be explored in this evaluation was the impact of the distribution adopted by the Scottish Executive. It is clearly important to understand how leaflets have been distributed and how this has impacted upon awareness and usage of the leaflets. Certainly, the qualitative data suggests that many parents have not received copies of these leaflets, although there was also a belief that some of this information had been received via school handbooks.

When local authority staff were asked how they became aware of the leaflets, the highest proportion (43%) said they had received them through the Scottish Executive's distribution. One in five (20%) picked them up at an event and a similar proportion (17%) directly from the Scottish Executive.

Chart 8.1 How became aware of the Making the Difference leaflets

Notes to Chart
Source: Q2b Values below 6% not presented
Base: All Local Authority respondents (35)

A majority of both local authority and school staff had distributed any of the leaflets to parents or to schools. As shown in Chart 8.2, 93% of school respondents had distributed Making the Difference literature to parents (only 6% had not); around nine in ten (89%) of local authority respondents had distributed Making the Difference literature to schools within their authority (only 11% had not).

Chart 8.2 Whether distributed any of the Making the Difference leaflets to parents/schools within Local Authority

Notes to Chart
Source: Q6a (Schools), Q4a ( LA's)
Base: All School respondents (248); All Local Authority respondents (35)

During the telephone interviews, all school respondents who had distributed any of the leaflets were asked to state the primary method(s) that best described the way they sent the Making the Difference literature to parents. As shown in Table 8.1, the majority (84%) sent Making the Difference literature to parents in hard copy though pupils' schoolbags. Proportions of secondary schools using this method were lower (71%, with early years schools at 94%) highlighting that this method of distribution becomes, or is perceived to be, less reliable as children become older - a fact that was reinforced by the qualitative research. Correspondingly, higher proportions of secondary schools used the postal method (although overall numbers were small).

Table 8.1 Best Method used by schools to distribute Making the Difference leaflets to parents

Notes to Table
Source: Q6b
Base: School respondents who have distributed leaflets (231)

When asked to say which methods had ever been used to send Making the Difference literature to parents, 39% had left literature in the school reception areas for parents to take on a voluntary basis and 24% had handed literature to parents at parents' evenings or other events. A relatively small proportion (11%) claimed to have made reference to this in a newsletter or news folder; only 7% had posted leaflets directly to all parents; and only 3% used the school website as another method of distributing literature.

School respondents were then given the opportunity to cite the reasons for choosing their primary method to distribute the Making the Difference leaflets to parents. Table 8.2 provides a summary of key responses to this question.

When asked to provide reasons for the use of schoolbags as a channel of distribution, around one third (37%) considered this to be an economical/cost effective method and a further 29% claimed this method was efficient / reliable / effective / secure. Responses were broadly similar across school types.

Of the small number of respondents who had chosen to distribute literature via school reception areas for parents to take on a voluntary basis, 4 claimed that this was because this method was economical/cost effective and the same number (4) utilised this method because it was convenient / easy / straightforward / suitable.

Efficiency in distribution is clearly important and of those posting directly, the main reason cited by 7 respondents for utilising this approach was because it was efficient / reliable / effective / secure (8 out of the 9 respondents who gave this as a primary method were from secondary schools).

When asked to describe the reasons for giving directly to parents, just over half of these (n=5) respondents said this method was chosen because it was quick / direct / timely.

Table 8.2 Reason(s) school has chosen primary method for distributing Making the Difference leaflets

Notes to Table
Source: Q6d
Base: School respondents who stated primary method used to distribute leaflets. Bases in column headers

As with the school staff, all Local Authority respondents who had distributed the leaflets were asked to state the primary method they had used to send Making the Difference literature to schools. As Table 8.3 reveals, 68% said their primary method was to send the literature to schools in hard copy; 13% said their primary method was to email links to schools to access the leaflets and 10% notified schools about the series of leaflets and left it to them to decide whether or not to order copies. Only a very small proportion (6%) claimed to have sent leaflets directly to parents in their authority area as their primary distribution method, although 29% had utilised this as an alternative method. A further 65% claimed to have distributed copies of parents at an event or to have emailed links to schools to access the leaflets as a secondary distribution approach.

Table 8.3 Methods used to distribute Making the Difference leaflets

Notes to Table
Source: Q4b & Q4c
Base: Local Authority respondents who have distributed leaflets (31)

Local Authority respondents were then given the opportunity to cite their reasons for choosing their stated primary method to distribute the Making the Difference materials (see Table 8.4).

When asked to provide a reason(s) why they had chosen hard copy as their primary distribution method, 29% said they sent a hard copy because not all parents use email/internet. A further 24% maintained that hard copy was the best method to reach parents and 14% claimed it was the easiest way to distribute leaflets. There were also some comments on the quality of leaflet being better or that schools preferred this format or that hard copy was the best way to raise awareness of changes in legislation.

Other distribution channels were used by small proportions of respondents and responses are provided in Table 8.4.

Table 8.4 Reason(s) local authority has chosen primary method for distributing Making the Difference leaflets

Notes to table
Source: Q4d
Base: Local Authorities who stated primary method used to distribute leaflets. Bases in column headers

The Scottish Executive distributed 3 copies of each leaflet to schools on publication and invited them to request further copies for parents at the time most suitable to the school. Copies of leaflets were also sent to Directors of Education and parental involvement contacts within local authorities.

All respondents participating in the telephone interviews were asked to say how satisfied they were with the Scottish Executive's approach to the distribution of leaflets to schools. Across the sample as a whole (school and local authority respondents), the majority was satisfied to any extent. School respondents overall were the most satisfied with 87% satisfied to any extent (37% very satisfied) compared with local authority respondents, of whom 77% were satisfied to any extent (51% very satisfied).

Chart 8.3 Extent to which satisfied with the Scottish Executive's approach to the distribution of the Making the Difference Leaflets to schools

Notes to Chart
Source: Q10a (Schools), Q8a ( LAs)
Base: All School respondents (248); All Local Authority respondents (35)

Of the 27 school staff who were dissatisfied with the Scottish Executive's approach to the distribution of leaflets, around half (52%) explained it was due to not always receiving enough leaflets. Fifteen per cent noted that this can add administration time for schools. Around one in ten (11%) stated the leaflets should have come with clearer guidance, and a similar proportion that leaflets should not be sent directly to schools without them applying for copies. The same proportion (11%) also made reference to the costs incurred in obtaining more copies of leaflets (e.g. photocopying, cost of ordering or the cost of distribution) - responses did not clarify to whom these costs related (school, local authority, the Scottish Executive etc.).

Chart 8.4 Reasons for being dissatisfied with the Scottish Executive's approach to distribution of leaflets to schools

Notes to Chart
Source: Q10b Values below 11% not presented
Base: School respondents dissatisfied with the Scottish Executive's approach to the distribution of leaflets (27)

Local authority employees were then asked to state the extent to which they were satisfied with the Scottish Executive's approach to the distribution of the Making the Difference leaflets to local authorities specifically. As Chart 8.5 shows eight in ten (83%) were satisfied to any extent (49% were very satisfied).

Chart 8.5 Extent to which satisfied with the Scottish Executive's approach to the distribution of the Making the Difference Leaflets to Local Authorities

Notes to Chart
Source: Q8b
Base: All Local Authority respondents (35)

Eight local authority respondents claimed they were dissatisfied with the Scottish Executive's approach to distribution of the leaflets to schools and local authorities. Three quarters (n=6) claimed the Scottish Executive needed to send more copies to schools and one quarter (n=2) said it had not been clearly communicated to them that the Scottish Executive were sending leaflets to schools (given the small bases, chart 8.6 provides numbers of respondents rather than percentages).

Chart 8.6 Reasons for being dissatisfied with the Scottish Executive's approach to distribution to schools / local authorities

Notes to Chart
Source: Q8c
Base: Local Authority respondents dissatisfied with the Scottish Executive's approach to the distribution of leaflets (8)

There was not a great deal of comment at the focus groups on the distribution approaches adopted by the Scottish Executive, although there were some queries as to who these leaflets are aimed and whether the leaflets actually reached the target audience. In the words of one respondent,

"It's interesting because you could be saying this is targeting the people it doesn't need to be targeting. If this is targeting the so-called middle classes, then they're the people that already know a lot about this information."

(Aberdeenshire, Male, ABC1)

Another respondent noted that the very people who could benefit most from these leaflets might be those who would be least likely to read them. That said, there was still support for continued distribution of these and any new leaflets.

In summary:

• A large majority of both local authority and school staff had distributed at least one of the leaflets to parents or to schools;
• A variety of distribution methods had been adopted by schools, although the key primary method was hard copy via pupil schoolbags. The key method of distribution adopted by local authorities to schools was hard copy;
• A large majority of all respondents were satisfied with the Scottish Executive's approach to the distribution of leaflets to schools. A similar proportion of local authority staff were satisfied with the Scottish Executive's distribution of leaflets to local authorities specifically;
• There were some queries raised during qualitative discussions as to the distribution approaches that had been adopted and whether those who could benefit most from the leaflets would be likely to read them. However, there was support for the continued distribution of these and any new leaflets.

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