Cultural Ministers Council

Statistics Working Group

Children's Participation in Culture and
Leisure Activities 2000

Prepared with the assistance of the
Australian Bureau of Statistics

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Age of participants
• Participation by part of State
• Frequency of participation
• Duration of participation
• Comparison with organised sport
• Art and craft activities
• Other leisure activities
• Computer and internet activities
• Cultural Ministers Council

Introduction

In April 2000, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) conducted a national survey to obtain details on various culture and leisure activities undertaken by children aged 5 to 14 years.

Data were collected on children’s participation in four selected organised cultural activities (playing a musical instrument, singing, dancing and drama); organised sport; five non-organised leisure activities (art and craft activities, TV and video watching, playing electronic or computer games, bike riding, and skateboarding or rollerblading); and computer and Internet usage.

Organised cultural activities

A total of 777,700 children (29%) aged 5 to 14 years were involved in at least one of the four nominated cultural activities outside of school hours in the 12 months to April 2000.

Of the four cultural activities, the predominant activity was playing a musical instrument (undertaken by 18% of children). This was followed by dancing (10%), singing (5%) and drama (5%).

Girls were twice as likely to have participated in organised cultural activities than boys (40% compared with 20%). Girls were much more likely to be involved in dancing in their free time, with eleven girls participating in this activity to every boy.

Participation in organised cultural activities, by sex

	Playing a musical instrument		Singing	Dancing	Drama
Participants ('000)
Boys		213.8	38.9	22.9	42.8
Girls		260.1	85.6	251.1	79.0
Total		473.9	124.6	274.1	121.8
Participation rate (%)
Boys		15.8	2.9	1.7	3.2
Girls		20.2	6.7	19.5	6.1
Total		17.9	4.7	10.4	4.6

A small percentage (6%) of children were involved in more than one of the four selected organised activities outside of school hours, with girls more likely to do so than boys (10% of girls and 3% of boys).

 

Number of organised cultural activities

	Children	Percentage
Cultural activities	'000	%
0	1 864.0	70.6
1	610.1	23.1
2	125.5	4.8
3	35.3	1.3
4	6.8	0.3
Total	2 641.7	100.0

Age of participants

Participation in dancing during leisure time was highest for children aged 6 years (13%) and then declined with age (7% of children aged 14 years danced). Participation in the other three organised cultural activities increased from age 5 and peaked in the
10 to 12 year age range.

Participation by State or Territory

The participation rate of children in the four organised cultural activities ranged from 34% in the Australian Capital Territory to 22% in the Northern Territory.

Girls' participation in the four organised cultural activities was about double that for boys in all States and Territories. The largest difference occurred in the Northern Territory—girls were three times more likely to participate in organised cultural activities than boys (34% compared with 11%).

Participation in organised cultural activities,
by State or Territory and sex—Participation rates

	Boys	Girls	Total
	%	%	%
NSW	21.4	42.1	31.5
Vic.	17.6	34.3	25.8
Qld	21.3	41.7	31.3
SA	19.1	38.1	28.3
WA	17.9	41.5	29.4
Tas.	16.7	38.7	27.5
NT	10.7	34.4	22.0
ACT	21.7	46.5	33.8
Aust.	19.7	39.7	29.4

The percentage of children playing a musical instrument was highest in the Australian Capital Territory (22%)—this was double the rate for the Northern Territory (11%).

Participation in organised cultural activities,
by State or Territory—Participation rates

	Playing a musical instrument	Singing	Dancing	Drama
	%	%	%	%
NSW	18.9	4.4	11.9	3.7
Vic.	16.7	3.6	9.0	3.8
Qld	18.3	6.4	9.5	6.7
SA	16.9	6.4	9.7	4.1
WA	17.5	4.0	12.1	6.0
Tas.	19.1	4.6	6.2	4.3
NT	11.3	*2.7	8.4	*1.9
ACT	22.4	5.9	10.9	6.1
Aust.	17.9	4.7	10.4	4.6
* estimate has a relative standard error between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution.

Participation by part of State

Children living in the six State capital cities had a slightly higher participation rate in organised cultural activities during their free time than those living elsewhere in Australia (31% compared with 27%).

Playing a musical instrument was the only activity in which participation differed significantly by location—20% of children living in the six State capital cities participated in this activity compared with 16% of children living elsewhere.

 

Participation in organised cultural activities,
By Part of State—Participation rates

	Playing a musical instrument	Singing	Dancing	Drama
	%	%	%	%
Capital city	19.5	4.7	10.5	4.4
Other	15.7	4.7	10.2	4.9
Total	17.9	4.7	10.4	4.6

Frequency of participation

Of those children who played a musical instrument in their leisure time, over half (52%) practised, had lessons or performed more than once a week on average during the year.

In comparison, 26% of the dancers, 14% of the singers and 6% of those involved in drama participated in their activity more than once a week on average.

Participants in organised cultural activities,
frequency in past year

	Playing a musical instrument	Singing	Dancing	Drama
Percentage of participants (%)
1–13 times	14.5	51.8	26.3	55.3
14–26 times	9.4	10.8	9.8	13.9
27–52 times	24.4	23.5	37.4	24.4
53 or more times	51.7	13.9	26.5	*6.4
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Mean times (no.)	113.3	31.1	49.8	21.0
* estimate has a relative standard error between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution.

Duration of participation

Those children playing a musical instrument outside of school hours spent an average of 5 hours practising, having lessons and performing during the two school weeks prior to the survey.

The average hours spent undertaking the other activities were 4 hours for dancing and 3 hours for both singing and drama during the two-week period.

 

Participants in organised cultural activities,
duration in past two school weeks

	Playing a musical instrument	Singing	Dancing	Drama
Percentage of participants (%)
2 hours or less	43.6	67.9	58.9	76.8
3–4 hours	20.8	15.6	17.0	10.9
5–9 hours	21.9	10.9	14.0	6.9
10 or more hours	13.6	5.6	10.1	*5.4
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Mean hours (no.)	4.8	2.7	3.9	2.6
* estimate has a relative standard error between 25% and 50% and should be used with caution.

Lessons outside of school hours

About 355,100 children received lessons, outside of school hours, on how to play a musical instrument in the 12 months to April 2000. This represents 75% of children who played a musical instrument.

In comparison, 255,900 children (93% of dancers) received dancing lessons, 83,600 children (69% of those involved in drama) had drama lessons and 71,600 children (57% of singers) had singing lessons.

Girls who were involved in dance were significantly more likely than boys to have had dancing lessons (95% of girls and 73% of boys).

Comparison with organised sport

In the 12 months to April 2000, children aged 5 to 14 years were twice as likely to have participated in organised sport outside of school hours, than in the four organised cultural activities covered in the survey—59% (1,568,200) compared with 29% (777,700).

While girls were more likely to have been involved in the organised cultural activities, boys were more likely to have played organised sport in their free time in the 12-month period—66% of boys played organised sport compared with 52% of girls.

Participation in organised sport ranged from a low of 32% for children aged 5 years to a peak of 69% for those aged 11 years. Three of the organised cultural activities (playing a musical instrument, singing and drama) showed a similar trend with participation peaking between the ages of 10 to 12 years.

Although children in the Northern Territory were least likely to have been involved in at least one of the four organised cultural activities, they had the highest participation rate in organised sport in their free time (66%). In contrast, children in Queensland had the lowest rate of participation in leisure-time organised sport (56%).

In the 12-month period, 30% (802,100) of children did not take part in any of the selected organised cultural activities or in organised sport outside of school hours.

Art and craft activities

This survey also collected information on participation in a number of non-organised activities, one of which was art and craft. In their leisure time, 44% (1,170,700) of children were involved in art and craft activities during the most recent two school weeks prior to interview in April 2000.

Children in Tasmania (54%) and the Australian Capital Territory (53%) had the highest rates of participation in art and craft activities while New South Wales (41%) had the lowest.

Children living in the six State capital cities were less likely to participate in art and craft activities than those living in the rest of Australia (43% compared with 47%).

As with the organised cultural activities, more girls participated in art and craft activities in their leisure time than boys—55% of girls compared with 34% of boys.

In contrast to other States or Territories, there was relatively little difference in the participation in art and craft activities of girls and boys in the Northern Territory (47% of girls compared with 39% of boys).

Participation in art and craft activities,
by State or Territory—Participation rates

	Boys	Girls	Total
	%	%	%
NSW	31.5	51.3	41.2
Vic.	32.1	53.4	42.5
Qld	35.0	57.7	46.1
SA	40.8	59.4	49.9
WA	39.6	56.7	47.9
Tas.	43.2	65.4	54.0
NT	38.7	46.8	42.6
ACT	43.1	63.1	52.9
Aust.	34.4	54.7	44.3

Boys involved in leisure-time art and craft activities during the two-week period spent an average of 6 hours on this activity compared with an average of 7 hours for girls.

 

Participation in art and craft activities,
Duration in Past Two School Weeks

	Boys	Girls	Total
Percentage of participants (%)
2 hours or less	37.8	28.7	32.3
3–4 hours	21.0	22.1	21.7
5–9 hours	21.2	20.8	21.0
10–19 hours	14.7	19.9	17.8
20 hours or more	5.3	8.5	7.2
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0
Mean hours (no.)	6.1	7.3	6.8

Participation in art and craft activities generally declined with age from 61% for 5 year old children to 25% for 14 year olds. This was the case for both boys and girls.

Other leisure activities

In the two most recent school weeks prior to interview, nearly all children were involved in at least one of the four other non-organised activities surveyed:

• 97% watched TV or videos;
• 69% played electronic or computer games;
• 64% rode bikes; and
• 31% skateboarded or rollerbladed.

While TV or video watching attracted equal percentages of boys and girls, a greater percentage of boys played electronic or computer games, rode bikes or went skateboarding or rollerblading.

Over the two-week period, both boys and girls who reported TV or video viewing spent an average of 22 hours watching TV or videos.

The amount of time viewers watched TV or videos increased with age. Of viewers aged 5 to 8 years, 45% watched at least 20 hours of TV or videos in the two-week period compared with 53% of viewers aged 9 to 11 years and 59% of those aged 12 to 14 years.

Participation in non-organised leisure activities,
by sex

	Skateboarding or roller-blading	Bike riding	Watching TV or videos	Playing electronic games or computer games
Participation rate (%)
Boys	35.6	71.1	96.9	79.1
Girls	26.1	56.2	96.9	58.1
Total	30.9	63.8	96.9	68.9
Mean hours- participants only (no.)
Boys	6.4	7.2	21.7	9.0
Girls	3.9	4.9	21.6	5.6
Total	5.4	6.2	21.7	7.6

Among those who played electronic or computer games, the average time spent on this activity was 9 hours for boys and 6 hours for girls over the two-week period.

Computer and internet activities

Children’s computer usage and Internet access both during and outside of school hours were also surveyed. Nearly 2.5 million (95%) children used a computer and 1.2 million (47%) children accessed the Internet in the 12 months to April 2000.

No significant difference in usage was evident between boys and girls. However usage, particularly of the Internet, appeared to increase with age.

 

Children were most likely to use a computer and access the Internet at school (94% and 67% respectively), followed by at their own home (76% and 56% respectively). Of those using a computer at home, most used it to play games (89% of home computer users) or for school or educational activities (70%). The Internet was most likely to be accessed at home for school or educational purposes (83% of home Internet users).

Computer and internet users, Location of Usage

	Computer.......		Internet.......
	'000	%	'000	%
Home	1 886.5	75.5	692.7	56.1
Someone else's home	1 000.9	40.1	257.6	20.9
School	2 348.4	94.0	822.5	66.6
Public Library	351.9	14.1	91.8	7.4
Other places	119.9	4.8	43.6	3.5
Total	2 498.3	100.0	1 234.4	100.0

Cultural Ministers Council

The Cultural Ministers Council was established in 1984 to provide a forum for the exchange of views on issues affecting cultural activities in Australia. It comprises Australian Commonwealth, State and Territory, and New Zealand government Ministers responsible for arts and cultural heritage.

Statistics Working Group

The Cultural Ministers Council established the Statistical Advisory Group, now known as the Statistics Working Group, in November 1985. The group liaises with the ABS on cultural statistics, monitors the need for the development, collection and dissemination of culture and leisure statistics, commissions studies, and provides advice to the Cultural Ministers Council on statistical matters.

Information regarding the Statistics Working Group or its activities can be obtained by contacting The Secretariat, Cultural Ministers Council Statistics Working Group, c/o The Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, GPO Box 2154, Canberra ACT 2601 (telephone 02 6271 1051, fax 02 6271 1697).

About the data

This brochure contains data from a survey of Children’s Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities conducted by the ABS covering the 12 months ending April 2000. The sample survey was conducted in dwellings in urban and rural areas of all States and Territories of Australia. Information was collected about the cultural and leisure activities of 9,700 children aged 5 to 14 years.

Further information on the concepts and methods used in the survey, the definitions, the interpretation and reliability of the results, as well as more comprehensive data provided by the survey, are included in the publication Children’s Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, April 2000 (Cat. no. 4901.0, $22.00). This publication is available from all bookshops of the ABS. Additional information on a range of culture and leisure statistics can be obtained from the ABS National Centre for Culture and Recreation Statistics, GPO Box 2272, Adelaide SA 5001 (telephone 08 8237 7449) or on the ABS web site www.abs.gov.au