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 South Australia 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 South Australia 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, 36% (69,200) of children aged 5-14 years in South Australia participated in at least one of five organised cultural activities outside of school hours.

Playing a musical instrument was the most popular organised activity with 18% of children in South Australia involved. By comparison, 15% were involved in dancing, 8% in organised art and craft, 6% in singing, and 4% were involved in drama.

When compared with the national participation rates, children in South Australia had slightly higher rates of participation for singing and organised art and craft, whilst drama was comparatively less popular. Participation rates for the remaining activities were similar.

Participation by age, sex and family type

Half of all girls in South Australia participated in at least one organised cultural activity compared with less than a quarter of boys (22%).

The most popular activities for girls were dancing and playing a musical instrument with 25,500 (27%) and 19,000 (20%) participants respectively. Almost all girls (97%) who participated in dancing took lessons in the 12 months prior to interview. The proportion of boys who participated in dancing and received formal dance instruction was lower at 79%.

For boys the most popular activity was playing a musical instrument attracting 15,100 (15%) participants with almost three quarters (71%) receiving lessons. A similar proportion (74%) of girls who played a musical instrument received lessons.

Survey results show that children aged 9-11 years reported higher rates of participation for playing a musical instrument (24%) and singing (9%) than those in other age groups. Children aged 5-8 years participated in dancing at double the rate of those in the 12-14 year age group (20% and 10% respectively.


Children from couple families (39%) were more likely to have participated in at least one of the organised cultural activities than those from single parent families (24%).

Duration of participation

In South Australia, children who played a musical instrument spent just over five hours, on average, engaged in this activity in the last two weeks of school prior to interview with this estimate almost an hour above the national average. Most of the participants engaged in this activity reported durations of two hours or less.

Those engaged in dancing and organised art and craft spent between two and three hours, on average, undertaking these activities.

With the exception of playing a musical instrument, children in South Australia spent less time, on average, engaged in these cultural pursuits than the national average.

 

CHILDREN’S PARTICIPATION IN OTHER LEISURE ACTIVITIES

In the 12 months to April 2012, 71% (122,100) of children aged 5-14 years in South Australia 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 South Australia 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 98% of children in South Australia had watched TV, DVDs or videos outside of school hours; 91% had participated in other screen based activities; 88% had done homework or other study; 73% read for pleasure; 65% had ridden a bike; and 54% had been skateboarding, rollerblading or riding a scooter. Almost half (49%) of all children in South Australia participated in recreational art and craft activities.

The leisure activity with the greatest differences between age groups was recreational art and craft with participation by those aged 5-8 years (66%) more than twice that of those in the 12-14 year age group (30%). Rates of participation by 12-14 year olds were also significantly lower than those of the other age groups for the activities of bike riding, and skateboarding, rollerblading or riding a scooter.


CHILDREN’S ATTENDANCE AT SELECTED CULTURAL VENUES AND EVENTS

In the 12 months to April 2012, 81% of all children in South Australia aged 5-14 years attended at least one of the selected cultural venues or events outside of school hours. Rates of attendance for children at performing arts events and public libraries were both 60% whilst just over half (52%) visited a museum or gallery.

Results from the survey indicate that children aged 5-8 years had higher rates of attendance for all of the cultural venues and events included in the survey. Those in the youngest age group were more likely to visit a museum or art gallery or attend a performing arts event than children aged 12-14 years. However, there is not enough evidence to conclude that the differences between age groups, for other venues or events were statistically significant.