CHILDREN'S PARTICIPATION IN CULTURAL AND LEISURE ACTIVITIES

This report uses data from the latest Survey of Children’s Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to present an overview of children in the Northern Territory and their interaction with the cultural sector.

Conducted in April 2012, the survey collected information about the out of school hours participation of children (aged 5-14 years) in five organised cultural activities, seven selected leisure activities, and attendance at selected cultural venues and events. The 2012 survey expanded the list of organised cultural activities (i.e. playing a musical instrument, singing, dancing and drama) to include organised art and craft. Recreational art and craft remains a leisure activity. In addition to these activities, information was also collected about children’s participation in organised sport.

The data contained in this report, including additional demographic data pertaining to the children participating in the cultural sector, is available in the data cube for the Northern Territory attached to Children’s Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, Australia, Apr 2012 (cat. no. 4901.0) on the ABS website.

PARTICIPATION IN ORGANISED CULTURAL ACTIVITIES

In the 12 months to April 2012, 28% (6,900) of children aged 5-14 years in the Northern Territory participated in at least one of the organised cultural activities outside of school hours.

Playing a musical instrument was the most popular organised activity with 12% of children in the Northern Territory involved. By comparison, 11% were involved in dancing, 6% in organised art and craft and 4% were involved in singing and drama.

When compared with the national participation rates, children in the Northern Territory had lower rates of participation in all selected organised cultural activities.

Participation by age, sex and family type

More than one third of all girls (38%) in the Northern Territory participated in at least one organised cultural activity but only 18% of boys participated.

Playing a musical instrument was the most popular activity for both girls and boys, with 1,700 (14%) and 1,300 (10%) participants respectively. Of the children who played a musical instrument, 68% had taken lessons in the 12 months prior to interview.

Dancing was the second most popular activity with 2,800 children (11%) engaged in this pursuit. The rate of participation for dancing was highest for those in the youngest age group. Survey results show varying rates of participation across the age groups for all other activities however, there is not enough evidence to conclude that these differences are statistically significant.

Reported estimates indicate that children from couple families (30%) were more likely to have participated in at least one of the organised cultural activities than those from single parent families (19%). However, there is not enough evidence to conclude that this difference is statistically significant.


CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATION IN OTHER LEISURE ACTIVITIES

In the 12 months to April 2012, 54% (13,400) of children aged 5-14 years in the Northern Territory had participated in at least one organised sport outside of school hours. More information about children's participation in organised sport is available in the data cube for the Northern Territory attached to Children’s Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, Australia, Apr 2012 (cat. no. 4901.0) on the ABS website.

In addition to participation in organised activities, the 2012 ABS survey also collected data on a range of other activities to provide an overall picture of what children did outside of school hours. Whilst mainly leisure activities, the list did include homework or other study. The results showed that in the two school weeks immediately prior to interview 87% of children in the Northern Territory had watched TV, DVDs or videos outside of school hours; 75% had participated in other screen based activities, 71% had done homework or other study, 70% had ridden a bike; 59% read for pleasure; and 45% had been skateboarding, rollerblading or riding a scooter. Just under one third (31%) of children in the Northern Territory participated in recreational art and craft.

The leisure activity with the greatest difference between the youngest and oldest age groups was recreational art and craft with participation by those aged 5-8 years (42%) more than twice that of those aged 12-14 years (19%). Younger children were also more likely to have participated in skateboarding, rollerblading or riding a scooter. By contrast, participation rates for other screen based activities were highest in the 12-14 year age group.

Reported results show fluctuations in participation rates across all age groups for the remaining leisure activities, however, there is not enough evidence to conclude that these differences are statistically significant.



CHILDREN’S ATTENDANCE AT SELECTED CULTURAL VENUES AND EVENTS

In the 12 months to April 2012, almost two thirds (63%) of all children in the Northern Territory aged 5-14 years attended at least one of the selected cultural venues or events outside school hours. Less than half (46%) of all children visited a museum or art gallery, whilst 39% visited a public library and 26% attended a performing arts event.

Survey results show variations in rates of attendance across all age groups for each of the selected venues or events. However, there is not enough evidence to conclude that these differences are statistically significant.