This article will guide you on how to create a teacher survey about school culture. You can use Specific to build and launch such a survey in seconds—just generate your survey and start getting insights.
Steps to create a survey for teachers about school culture
If you want to save time, just generate a survey with Specific, and you're set. But if you're curious about the process, here's how easy it is with an AI survey generator like Specific:
Tell what survey you want.
Done.
Honestly, you don’t even need to read further if you’re just looking to create a solid teacher survey right now. AI will instantly create your survey with expert-backed logic. It will even ask respondents follow-up questions in real time to uncover deeper insights—all for you, with zero hassle.
Why school culture surveys with teachers really matter
Let’s be real: if you’re not running school culture surveys with teachers, you’re missing out on crucial feedback that shapes the daily experience at your school. These surveys do more than collect opinions—they surface real issues and opportunities for improvement.
Here’s why it’s so important. In a recent survey, only 45% of Urbandale teachers felt favorably toward their school climate—that’s less than half, showing there’s plenty of room for growth and higher morale [1].
Regularly gathering teacher perspectives on school culture isn’t just a feel-good exercise. The benefits of teacher feedback are practical and significant: it means schools can spot problems before they become crises, identify strengths to build on, and demonstrate to staff that their voices matter. Skipping these surveys means missing insights that could boost retention, support professional development, and keep your school environment healthy.
When you treat the importance of teacher recognition surveys seriously, you build a school that’s more adaptable, resilient, and successful. Teachers who feel heard are far more likely to stay and help students thrive. If you’re not checking in, you’re simply steering without a compass [4].
What makes a good teacher survey about school culture?
No one likes answering boring or confusing questions—and you won’t get honest feedback if your survey feels like a test. A good teacher survey on school culture uses clear, unbiased, and conversational questions that actually encourage teachers to open up. The more authentic the tone, the richer your insights.
Here’s a quick hit-list on what works (and what doesn’t):
Bad practices | Good practices |
|---|---|
Leading or loaded questions | Neutral, unbiased phrasing |
Complex jargon | Conversational, everyday language |
All closed-ended questions | Mix of open- and closed-ended questions for depth |
No anonymity | Anonymous responses for honesty |
The best measure of a survey? Both quantity and quality of responses should be high. You want lots of thoughtful input, not just quick, checkbox replies [3].
Question types and examples for a teacher survey about school culture
The quality of your results directly depends on selecting the right question types. Great teacher surveys mix formats to pull out what really matters—surface-level stats and deep, personal stories. For more ideas and specific wording tips, check out our in-depth guide to the best questions for teacher surveys on school culture.
Open-ended questions let teachers share what’s on their minds, in their own words. Use these when you want nuanced feedback or want to uncover unexpected insights. Example questions:
What’s one thing you feel contributes most to positive school culture here?
Describe a moment this year when you felt especially supported (or unsupported) at school.
Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect for benchmarking how widely certain experiences or feelings are shared across the staff. Use them when you want clean, easy-to-analyze data. Example:
How would you rate the overall collaboration among staff at your school?
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor
NPS (Net Promoter Score) question is a favorite for tracking overall satisfaction or loyalty over time. Use a tool like Specific's NPS survey generator for teachers for instant setup. Example:
On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend this school as a great place to work to a fellow teacher?
Followup questions to uncover "the why": Asking followups helps you drill down for context when a response is unclear or surprising. For example:
“I feel my voice isn’t heard.”
Can you share a specific situation when you felt this way?
This approach turns your survey into a true, two-way conversation, not just a data grab. If you want even more in-depth ideas, see our comprehensive question list for teacher surveys about school culture.
What is a conversational survey?
Conversational surveys transform feedback collection from a boring form-fill into an engaging chat. Instead of just clicking boxes, teachers have a natural back-and-forth that feels like talking to a thoughtful colleague. The AI can respond intelligently, ask clarifying followups, and keep the experience relaxed—no more survey fatigue.
The main advantage over traditional/manual survey creation? AI survey generation (with platforms like Specific) offloads all the heavy lifting. You don’t need to be an expert or spend hours formatting questions. Just describe your goal, and the AI builds a high-quality survey that feels human. Here’s a comparison:
Traditional survey | AI-generated survey |
|---|---|
Manual question writing | Expert-built questions in seconds |
Why use AI for teacher surveys? Because it’s faster, smarter, and makes the feedback process less of a chore for everyone involved. If you want to explore a step-by-step workflow, our detailed guide on how to create and analyze conversational surveys is a solid place to start.
AI survey examples—especially conversational, chat-style ones—stand out for their response rates and depth of insight. Specific’s interface leads the pack, offering the smoothest and most responsive conversational surveys out there, both for survey creators and for teachers sharing their input.
The power of follow-up questions
The magic behind conversational surveys is in the follow-up questions. Platforms like Specific leverage AI-powered followups to dig deeper, in real time, without any manual chasing. The AI analyzes each teacher’s answer, asks clarifying questions based on context, and uncovers rich insights—just like an expert interviewer would. This replaces endless back-and-forth emails or the loss of detail you get in static forms.
Here’s how this plays out in a real scenario:
Teacher: “I don’t feel supported by leadership.”
AI follow-up: “Thanks for sharing. Can you tell us about a recent experience when you felt unsupported?”
Without that follow-up, you’re left with a vague comment and no actionable detail. Followups capture the “why”—the context you need to make real improvements.
How many followups to ask? Usually, 2–3 are all you need for rich context. Your survey platform should let you customize this (and let respondents skip to the next question if they’ve said enough). With Specific, you can easily set follow-up depth to match your goals and time constraints.
This makes it a conversational survey: Instead of a one-way list of questions, it feels like a thoughtful conversation, resulting in more honest and detailed responses.
AI survey response analysis and open-ended insights: Even if you end up with pages of open-ended feedback, AI makes it easy to synthesize and track what matters. If you’re curious, our article on how to analyze teacher survey responses with AI breaks down how to make sense of it all.
Ready to try it yourself? These automated follow-ups are the next step for anyone who wants to enhance the quality of their teacher feedback. Experience how it works by generating your own survey today.
See this school culture survey example now
Create your own survey—capture richer feedback in less time and discover what teachers really experience. Start your conversational teacher survey now.