Help us understand where the system creates unnecessary work, uncertainty or barriers.
Waypaths is being shaped with the people who find, coordinate, provide and experience support.
Different parts of the system see different problems. Our research is designed to understand those perspectives separately, establish clearer starting evidence and test assumptions before we make stronger claims about what Waypaths may change.
Please do not include identifiable learner, family, staff or case information. General research forms are not safeguarding reporting routes and cannot provide case support. If you have a safeguarding concern, follow your usual safeguarding process or contact the relevant safeguarding lead. If someone is at immediate risk, contact emergency services.
Each perspective is unique. We want to hear them all.
Choose the route closest to your role or experience. Each route should ask only the questions relevant to that audience and explain how the response will be used before the form begins.
Local Authorities, Schools and Multi-academy trusts
Tell us how teams understand learner needs, find and compare services, review provider information, manage practical blockers and record decisions across current workflows.
Alternative provision & Specialist
Tell us what makes a request useful, what information you repeatedly explain or submit, how you assess fit and where service limits or changing capacity are misunderstood.
Families and guardians
Tell us which parts of the support process are difficult to understand, where information has to be repeated and what families need to see about support, decisions and review.
Researchers, policy teams and funders
Share a research question, evaluation perspective or potential partnership route relating to workflow burden, service clarity, unmet need, access or decision transparency.
What are my responses used for?
Subject to the explanation and choices shown on the relevant form, responses may be used to:
- understand current workflows and repeated administrative tasks
- identify information that is commonly missing or difficult to use
- refine Waypaths terminology, service fields and process design
- compare themes between audience groups without assuming one perspective represents all others
- inform anonymised or carefully aggregated research summaries where appropriate
- support funding or partnership discussions using qualified, non-identifiable themes
Safeguarding
General research forms are not monitored as safeguarding reporting routes. If you have a safeguarding concern, follow your usual safeguarding process or contact the relevant safeguarding lead. If someone is at immediate risk, contact emergency services.
Do not send information that could identify a learner or individual case.
Waypaths research cannot investigate or intervene in an individual support, placement, complaint, funding or legal decision. Use the relevant organisation’s formal route or seek appropriate independent advice.
Practical questions before choosing a questionnaire.
Do I need to use Waypaths to take part?
No. The questionnaires are intended to understand current processes and experiences, including from people and organisations that have never used Waypaths.
Is the questionnaire anonymous?
Each form will explain what personal information it collects. Contact details are optional, and all findings will be anonymised and/or aggregated before shared beyond the Waypaths research team.
Can I upload an EHCP, report or referral form as an example?
No. Our research forms do not ask for learner records, reports, correspondence or case documents. Describe the process in general terms without including identifiable information.
Can I report a safeguarding concern through the questionnaire?
No. Our research forms are not monitored as safeguarding routes. Follow your usual safeguarding process or contact the relevant safeguarding lead. If someone is at immediate risk, contact emergency services.
Will my response affect an individual support or placement decision?
No. Waypaths research cannot make or influence an individual support, funding, placement, complaint or legal decision.
Will taking part lead to further contact?
Only if consent is given. Research participation, follow-up contact consent, pilot interest and marketing consent are separate choices.
Will Waypaths publish my response?
Only when explicit consent is given in the questionnaire, anonymised quotations, themes or aggregated findings may be published.
Can a learner complete one of these questionnaires?
The current forms are designed for adults. We are not currently collecting experiences directly from learners, however, adults taking part are welcome to share their guardian perspective of their learner’s experience.