NETA for Parents and Carers

Informed Consent - What you need to know as a parent, carer or guardian

We want you to know exactly what NETA is and how it works so you can choose if you want to use it or not.

What is NETA?

NETA is an online surveying tool designed to evaluate the impact of outdoor learning programs. NETA is currently designed to work with children and adults 8 years plus. It collects feedback from parents, participants, and session leaders to track changes in five key areas over time:

Confidence : Creativity : Resilience : Independence : Wellbeing

NETA helps collect information by sending a special email to the email address you supplied during your consent process. This email has a specially designed link to a survey specifically for your child. All you need to do is answer each question and once you have answered all 25 questions select the submit button.

We feel it is important to hear everyone’s voice and so there is one set of questions for your child to answer and a similar one for you to answer. You do not need to type big long answers, they are given by selecting one of six points on a scale. You should be able to answer all the questions in around 15 minutes. Your child may need a little support completing their questionaire and may take a little longer.

What You Need to Know About NETA during the testing phase

1. Your Data is private and Safe

All data collected through NETA is securely stored by NETA in a password protected account accessed by your session leader
Personal identifiers (like your child or young people’s names and parent’s names and email addresses) are only accessible to your outdoor learning session leader (the account holder)
Survey responses during NETA’s testing phase will be securely deleted after the testing phase or within 24 months, by your session leader.

Sharing data with the Forest School Association

Anonymised survey responses are collected as part of large scale research projects exploring the effectiveness of Forest School and outdoor learning. This anonymised data is held by the Forest School Association and is anonymised (names and identifying features are removed) and psuedomised (given a numerical code) during submission so your personal details are never shared with the FSA staff, researchers, or administrators.
By providing your name and email to your session leader you agree that this anonymised data can be shared with us.

2. Voluntary Participation and Right to Withdraw

Participation in NETA is completely voluntary. Participants, parents, carers or guardians can choose to opt out or withdraw their consent at any time without penalty.
If you withdraw, all identifiable data will be promptly deleted upon request.

How do I withdraw my participation or that of my child or young person?

3. Purpose and Benefits of NETA

NETA helps track your child’s progress in key areas like confidence, resilience, and wellbeing during outdoor learning programs.
Your feedback contributes to improving outdoor learning experiences and supports research that advocates for more funding and recognition for programs like Forest School on a local and national level.
You support your outdoor learning leader by helping them illustrate changes in participants during their sessions

How will this information be used?

What Does Participation Involve?

First of all, participation is easy and voluntary.

You and your child or young person will be invited to complete three short surveys (each takes about 15 minutes) each. Because outdoor learning programmes are often of different lengths the surveys will be:

1. Pre-Survey: Before the program begins, to establish a baseline.
2. Mid-Survey: In the middle of the program, to look at the effectiveness of the sessions so far.
3. Post-Survey: At the end of the program, to measure changes over time.

Survey invitations are sent directly to your email and are completed and submitted at the click of a button.

Find out more about the surveys, what they look like and how to answer them.

What equipment do I need to take part?

You will need a mobile phone, computer or tablet with access to your email and the internet.

Frequently asked questions

Why are we testing NETA?

NETA is a brand new tool and like any new tool we need to check that it works for the majority of users, therefore we (FSA) need to:

Ensure it functions correctly (e.g., surveys are sent, collected, and scored properly).
Ensure good usability for parents, participants, and leaders.
Gather feedback to refine the app before its final release.

Your insights during this phase are vital in helping us create a better, more effective tool.

Find out more about the FSA, who we are and what we do

Find out how our testing is going

Why your participation matters?

Your feedback helps us:

Improve NETA’s usability for parents like you.
Ensure the app delivers meaningful insights about your child’s learning journey.
Advocate for better outdoor education opportunities with funders and policymakers.

For more details, or to feedback contact Nic, the project coordinator at nic@forestschoolassociation.org. Thank you for supporting outdoor education and helping us improve NETA!

How will your responses be used during and after our test phase?

During Testing: Data will be used to evaluate NETA’s functionality, not for research conclusions.
Privacy: Your data and your child’s data are securely stored and anonymized. Only your session leaders will see identifiable data, like names and email addresses.
After Testing: All testing data will be deleted after the testing phase or within 24 months, whichever comes first. Data submitted after the testing period concludes may form part of future research conclusions.

Find out more about the data that is collected and used by NETA

Find out more about how my data will be used in research

What can the session leader do with my data?