Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, which was established in September 2017, provides a world-leading approach to gathering data on how children engage with sport and physical activity. This school-based survey is the first and largest established physical activity survey with children and young people in England. It gives anyone working with children aged 5-16 key insight to help understand children's attitudes and behaviours around sport and physical activity. The results will shape and influence local decision-making as well as inform government policy on the PE and Sport Premium, Childhood Obesity Plan and other cross-departmental programmes. More general information about the study can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpage and the Active Lives Online website, including reports and data tables.
The Active Lives Children and Young People survey is a school-based survey (i.e., historically always completed at school as part of lessons). Academic years 2020-2021 and 2019-20 have both been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in school sites being closed to many pupils for some of the year (e.g., during national lockdown periods, and during summer term for 2019-20). Due to the closure of school sites, the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey, 2020-2021 was adapted to allow at-home completion. Despite the disruption, the survey has still received a sufficient volume of responses for analysis. The adaptions involved minor questionnaire changes (e.g., to ensure the wording was appropriate for those not attending school and to enable completion at home), and communication changes. For further details on the survey changes, please see the accompanying User Guide document. Academic year 2020-21 saw a more even split of responses by term across the year, compared to 2019-20 which had a reduced proportion of summer term responses due to the disruption caused by Covid-19. It is recommended to analyse the data within term, as well as at an overall level, because of the changes in termly distribution. The survey identifies how participation varies across different activities and sports, by regions of England, between school types and terms, and between different demographic groups in the population. The survey measures levels of activity (active, fairly active and less active), attitudes towards sport and physical activity, swimming capability, the proportion of children and young people that volunteer in sport, sports spectating, and wellbeing measures such as happiness and life satisfaction. The questionnaire was designed to enable analysis of the findings by a broad range of variables, such as gender, family affluence and school year. The following datasets have been provided: 1) Main dataset – this file includes responses from children and young people from school years 3 to 11, as well as responses from parents of children in years 1-2. The parents of children in years 1-2 provide behavioural answers about their child’s activity levels, they do not provide attitudinal information. Using this main dataset, full analyses can be carried out into sports and physical activity participation, levels of activity, volunteering (years 5 to 11), etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_gross.csplan files are available for SPSS users who can utilise them). 2) Year 1-2 dataset – this file include responses from children in school years 1-2 directly, providing their attitudinal responses (e.g. whether they like playing sport and find it easy). Analysis can be carried out into feelings towards swimming, enjoyment for being active, happiness etc. Weighting is required when using this dataset (wt_gross / wt_gross.csplan files are available for SPSS users who can utilise them). 3) Teacher dataset – this file includes response from the teachers at schools selected for the survey. Analysis can be carried out into school facilities available, length of PE lessons, whether swimming lessons are offered, etc. Weighting was formerly not available, however, as Sport England have started to publish the Teacher data, from December 2023 we decide to apply weighting to the data. The Teacher dataset now includes weighting by applying the ‘wt_teacher’ weighting variable. For further information about the variables available for analysis, and the relevant school years asked survey questions, please see the supporting documentation. Please read the documentation before using the datasets. More general information about the study can be found on the Sport England Active Lives Survey webpages.Latest edition informationFor the second edition (January 2024), the Teacher dataset now includes a weighting variable (‘wt_teacher’). Previously, weighting was not available for these data.
Main Topics:Topics covered in the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey include:Sport and physical activity participationWell-beingHealth
Multi-stage stratified random sample
Web-based interview
