Information for schools taking part in the HBSC Scotland 2026 survey
We will be contacting sampled schools during the autumn term 2025. The online HBSC questionnaire will be completed in school during January to May 2026.
This page will be updated with key information about the survey and what it involves for your school shortly.
Information leaflets for schools, parents/carers and pupils
Information leaflets for parents/carers and pupils should be distributed at least two weeks in advance of administering the survey. The information sheets for the 2026 survey will be available shortly.
HBSC 2022 Survey Information:
Parents and carers' guide to the HBSC survey
Schools will send you information about the survey and how the data will be managed and used two weeks before your child is invited to take part.
This section will be updated shortly to include additional FAQs, providing further information and addressing any questions or queries you may have.
Accessing the online HBSC survey
We hope there will be no difficulties accessing the online survey; most problems can be resolved locally by following the advice in the Technical Troubleshooting Sheet below. We strongly recommend you test the survey in advance of the pupil session to check it works well on the school’s system. In the first instance, we recommend you contact your local IT support as they are more likely to be able to resolve the issue locally.
You can find your school’s unique survey url and QR code in your school survey pack.
Information for the 2026 survey will be updated shortly.
Survey topics
The survey asks about a variety of topics relating to health and wellbeing and health behaviours. Topics include: sleeping habits, electronic media use, eating habits, physical activity, school life, friends, family life, substance use, and sexual health (S4 only).
Class response form
It is important to know how many pupils in each class took part, so we are able to calculate response rates for the survey. Please complete the online class response form as soon as you can after your class completes the survey. You can find the link to the online class response form in the class teacher instructions.
School Level Questionnaire
The HBSC School Level Questionnaire (SLQ) collects information on aspects of school policy, programmes, environment and ethos which are relevant to health improvement. The data from the SLQ are particular useful when merged with the child-level data and used in tandem to measure the extent and relative importance of child- and school-level determinants of adolescent health and wellbeing.
We would like one member of the Senior Management Team with a health and wellbeing remit to complete the survey. The online SLQ will take about 15 minutes to complete. The information you provide will be treated in strict confidence.
What will happen to the data from my school?
All the information we collect from pupils and schools will be kept strictly confidential. To read what we will do with the data please see our Privacy Notice.
The Privacy Notice for the 2026 survey will be available shortly.
We will provide schools who take part with a school-level health and wellbeing data report to support health and wellbeing planning and activities within the school.
Where can I find out more?
We’d be happy to answer any questions. Please email the HBSC Scotland team: shw-hbscscotland@glasgow.ac.uk.