Concept mapping helps educators and school stakeholders understand their top priorities.

A few days ago, the Observatoire pour l’éducation et la santé des enfants (OPES), in collaboration with Polygon, launched the initial phase of a concept mapping exercise to identify the most pressing issues to be addressed in schools across the province of Quebec.

“When a teacher identifies a particular issue as a priority, do other key stakeholders – including parents, school principals, and community partners – share this perspective?”

Despite the growing awareness of the impact of educational issues on academic success and overall health, several key questions remain unanswered. Which specific issues should be prioritized? When a teacher identifies a particular issue as a priority, do other key stakeholders – including parents, school principals, and community partners – share this perspective? Is there a consensus on which issues should be prioritized? Are specific issues linked in any way?

To address this knowledge gap, the OPES research team employed concept mapping as a participatory approach to gather the diverse perspectives of multiple stakeholders and assess how multiple they perceive a given issue.

This major consultation will provide a comprehensive overview of the most pressing issues and the most effective solutions across the province.

All school stakeholders are invited to participate in this province-wide survey, from teachers, parents, and school staff members, to members of community-based organizations.

The research team is using our CM* tool to carry out this project. Based on the collected data, Polygon will facilitate Design Thinking workshops to help researchers identify potential interventions to be developed or implemented over the coming months.

Book a quick demo with us to learn more about our tools and solutions.