Taking Part: England's survey of culture, leisure and sport: headline findings from the child survey 2007
Data from 2007 of the Taking Part child survey produced by DCMS were released on 2 October 2008 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority
Last release date
2 October 2008
Period covered
January to December 2007
Geographic coverage
England
Next release date
The final report on PSA3, with complete estimates from year three, will be released December 2008
The Taking Part survey collects data about engagement and non-engagement in culture, leisure and sport. The survey includes a child interview for those households containing at least one child aged 11 to 15. In 2007, 2,454 interviews were conducted with children in this age group.
The summary report begins by looking at what children do in their spare time, and cross-sector engagement. It then presents selected findings from each cultural and sporting sector in turn, including the overall engagement rate in and out of school lessons and the frequency of engagement. Finally it looks at variations by three population sub-groups – gender, ethnicity and disability status.
Also published are a series of accompanying workbooks. The workbooks compare Taking Part child data from the 2006 and 2007 surveys, and highlight any statistically significant changes.
Key findings
- Spending time with friends, watching television and listening to music were the three main activities children reported doing in their free time. Of all activities, spending time with friends, sports activities and playing computer games were given as the most enjoyable.
- Virtually all children had engaged in at least one form of cultural or sporting opportunity during the past 12 months.
- Overall, child engagement remained consistent between 2006 and 2007. There were, however, some statistically significant differences within population sub-groups:
- Boys were significantly less likely than girls to have attended arts events, participated in arts activities and visited libraries, but more likely to have participated in an active sport.
- Children from White ethnic backgrounds were more likely than those from Black or minority ethnic backgrounds to have visited historic environment sites, but less likely to have visited libraries.
Link to report
Headline findings from the child survey 2007 – summary report PDF (89kb)
Headline findings from the child survey 2007 – summary report RTF (393kb)
Workbooks
Accompanying workbooks are offered in MS Excel formats. Each file is under 100kb and will open in a new window.
Pre-release access list
The document below contains a list of Ministers and Officials who have received privileged early access to this release of Taking Part child survey data. In line with best practice, the list has been kept to a minimum and those given access for briefing purposes had a maximum of 24 hours.
Related Information
Taking Part Survey
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These documents are available online in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format.
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