Active Lives Children and Young People Survey 2020/21

Ipsos carried out this survey of pupils in schools on behalf of Sport England during the academic year 2020/21. This is the fourth year of an ongoing annual survey.

The survey is carried out online through schools in England during the autumn, spring and summer terms. Questionnaires are completed by pupils in school year 1-2 and their parents, pupils in school year 3-11, and one teacher in each school. Schools are recruited with the assistance of Active Partnerships, School Games Organisers and others involved in providing support for sport in schools. 

During the 2020/21 academic year over 100,000 pupil and parent responses were received from over 1,300 schools. The survey continued during all three terms of the 2020/21 academic year despite the closure of school sites to many pupils during the spring term and disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the academic year. Pupils could complete the survey from home when school sites were partly closed or individual pupils were self-isolating. 

This year, the main report shows annual results as well as term by term results when these are important for understanding change over time and the impacts of the pandemic on pupils’ activities. This is particularly important because in 2019/20 school sites were shut to most pupils in the summer term, whereas in 2020/21 the greatest disruption was during the spring term.

The main report includes information on how much sport and physical activity young people are doing overall and by different demographic groups and which activities are most prevalent in different year groups. The attitudes of children and young people to sport and activity and the relationship with activity levels and wellbeing are explored. The report also covers the prevalence of volunteering to support sports and physical activity, and how the demographic profile of volunteers differs from the population as a whole. It also explores associations between wellbeing, individual and community development and participation in sport, physical activity and volunteering. The sample sizes for the survey allow analysis of activity by active partnership, local authority and region in order to look at geographical inequalities.

• The year 4 reports – with the data tables and technical note – have now been published on the Sport England website.
• The results from academic years 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 of the survey (years 1 to 3) are available here: Active Lives Children and Young People Survey.
• Read Dr. Margaret Blake's blog from 2019/20 about research in schools during the pandemic.
• Read Dr. Margaret Blake's blog from 2017/18: How active are children and young people (and will they tell us)?

Technical Note

A sample of schools was drawn from the Department for Education list of schools (Edubase (Get information about schools) 2019/20) and up to three classes in each school selected. The sample includes state primary, state secondary and independent schools and each school was allocated to a term. The published pupil level data are weighted to make the weighted achieved sample match the population as closely as possible. Information on the sampling, weighting and how confidence intervals and population estimates were calculated are included in a detailed technical note.

The questionnaire collects detailed information on participation in a wide range of sport and physical activity over the previous week, both at school and outside school. Information is gathered on the type of activity, time spent doing activities, the intensity, and whether it is indoors or outdoors. This information was used to create the derived activity variables presented in the report.  In addition, questions are asked about the key outcomes in Sport England’s strategy including wellbeing, and individual and community development as well as related topics such as volunteering and sports spectating. A question on loneliness was included for the first time in 2019/20 so there are now two years of data for this measure. Socio-demographic information is provided at a pupil and school level and allows for analysis of inequalities in sports participation. Detailed information on swimming proficiency and confidence are also included in the survey. The questions asked vary by pupil year group. Details of the questions, derived variables and definitions are provided in the technical note.

How the COVID-19 pandemic affected collection of the data:

The Active Lives Children and Young People survey is a school-based survey (i.e. historically always completed at school as part of lessons). From 20th March 2020, school sites were closed to most pupils due to the COVID-19 pandemic; and sites remained closed to most pupils until 1st June 2020, when there was a phased reopening for reception, years 1 and 6. Due to the closure of school sites to most pupils, the Active Lives Children and Young People survey had to be adapted for at home completion. The adaptions involved minor questionnaire changes (e.g. to ensure the wording was appropriate for both the new lockdown situation and to account for the new survey completion method at home) and communication changes.  Since the pandemic was ongoing in academic year 2020/21 these changes to the survey procedures were retained in 2020/21. During the autumn term 2020 school sites were mainly open but with pupils experiencing periods of self-isolation at home. During most of spring term 2021 school sites were closed to most pupils, until they reopened on 8th March. During the summer term 2021 schools were open but, as in autumn term 2020, pupils experienced periods of self-isolation and studying at home. The activities available to young people varied across the year but for most of the academic year there were restrictions of some kind on participation in physical activity, access to facilities, or the number of people who could interact. The 2020/21 survey ran through all three terms and provides important data on activity during this period.

Data

Active Lives Children and Young People Survey data from survey years 1 and 2 (2017/18 and 2018/19) are now available from the UK Data Service.