Children's Participation in Culture and Leisure Activities

NAME OF ORGANISATION
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

OVERVIEW

This survey is a supplement to the Monthly Population Survey. It collects data on children's participation in selected organised cultural activities, organised sport and selected non-organised recreational activities outside of school hours. It also collects data on children's access to and usage of the internet during and outside of school hours. The survey targets children aged 5 to 14 years.

PURPOSE

The purpose of the survey is to provide information on children's participation in cultural and leisure activities to key users in the sport, cultural and information technology sectors to improve decision making. The data are important for:

• determining the characteristics of children who participate in organised sport (planning of intervention strategies to target particular groups of children who do not participate in sport on a regular basis);
• sport/recreation and cultural facilities planning (including emerging activities);
• determining the frequency/duration of participation which will assist in assessing health benefits for children (relevant to the Active Australia policy);
• determining links between in-school and out-of-school activities;
• determining the level of digital technology infrastructure in Australian homes particularly in relation to key technologies such as the Internet which are seen as critical in the emerging information economy; and
• determining the potential for economic and social development in regional Australia by removing distance as a barrier to accessing services such as education.

Principal users are:

• National Centre for Culture and Recreation Statistics (NCCRS) and the Innovation and Technology National Statistical Centre (I&T NSC) of the ABS;
• Cultural Ministers Council Statistical Working Group (CMC SWG);
• Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE);
• Committee of Australian Sport and Recreation Officials (CASRO) Research Group;
• State and Territory Departments of the Arts;
• Department of Regional Australia, Local Government, Arts and Sport;
• Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities (DSEWPaC);
• The Australia Council for the Arts;
• Meeting of Sport and Recreation Ministers;
• Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary Education;
• Australian Sports Commission;
• State and Territory Departments of Sport and Recreation;
• Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR);
• State Education Departments; and
• Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

The scope of the collection included all children aged 5 to 14 years who were usual residents of private dwellings except

• children in households where all persons aged 15 years and over were in the Australian permanent defence forces;
• children of certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, customarily excluded from ABS censuses and surveys;
• children of overseas residents in Australian; and
• children of non-Australian defence forces stationed in Australia.

In the Monthly Population Survey, coverage rules are applied which aim to ensure that each person is associated with only one dwelling, and hence has only one chance of selection. The chance of a person being enumerated at two separate dwellings in the one survey is considered to be negligible. See 6203.0 Explanatory Notes paragraph 43 for information about the effect of the coverage rules on family statistics.

DATA DETAIL

Conceptual framework

Not applicable

Main outputs

For children aged 5 to 14 years of age, access and usage of computers and the Internet during and outside of school hours, participation in selected organised cultural activities, organised sport and selected non-organised leisure activities outside of school hours cross-classified by geographic and demographic characteristics (e.g. State or Territory, region (capital city/other), age, sex, country of birth, family type).

The key outputs from this survey are included in the publication 'Children's Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, Australia' (ABS cat. no. 4901.0) and include the following tables:

• Children participating in selected activities, By sex - time series
• Children's participation in selected organised cultural activities, Selected characteristics
• Children participating in selected organised cultural activities, By number of activities and sex
• Children participating in selected organised cultural activities, By whether lessons received in last 12 months and sex
• Children participating in selected organised cultural activities, Duration in last two weeks of school
• Children's attendance at selected cultural venues and events, Selected characteristics
• Children attending selected cultural venues and events, Frequency in last 12 months
• Children's participation in organised sport, Selected characteristics
• Children participating in organised sport, By number of sports and sex
• Children participating in organised sport, Frequency in last 12 months, By age and sex
• Children participating in most popular organised sports, By sex
• Children participating in top 12 organised sports, Frequency in last 12 months
• Children participating in organised sport, Duration in last two weeks of school, By age and sex
• Children's participation in organised sport and/or selected organised cultural activities, Selected characteristics
• Children's participation in selected recreational activities, Selected characteristics
• Children participating in selected recreational activities, Duration in last two weeks of school, By sex
• Children's internet access and mobile phone ownership, Selected characteristics
• Children's internet use, By age

Standard Labour Force classifications are used for all geographic and demographic variables. Classifications for specific sport, culture, leisure and technology variables were developed through user consultation.

Other concepts (summary)

Not applicable

GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
Australia
New South Wales
Victoria
Queensland
South Australia
Western Australia
Tasmania
Northern Territory
ACT
Statistical Region
Labour Force Region
Part of State Metropolitan
Part of State Extra-Metropolitan
Capital City Statistical Division

Comments and/or Other Regions

Excludes people in indigenous communities. Prior to the 2012 survey, people living in very remote areas of Australia were also excluded.

COLLECTION FREQUENCY
3 Yearly

Frequency comments

This survey was first enumerated in April 2000, and has been run every 3 years since.

COLLECTION HISTORY

Data on this topic has been collected triennially since April 2000.

DATA AVAILABILITY
Yes

Data availability comments