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For more information on this release:

E-mail: information@cso.ie Helen McGrath (+353) 21 453 5108 Eoin McCuirc (+353) 21 453 5504

For general information on CSO statistics:

information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-681X

CSO statistical release, 19 October 2017, 11am

Census At School

October 2017

Students spend twice as much time on a mobile as they do watching TV

Figure 1 Average number of hours spent on media devices

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From an estimated 352,000 secondary school students, 3,471 (1.0%) students completed the Phase 16 questionnaire of the CensusAtSchool survey. It was available between September 2016 and August 2017. The phase 16 questionnaire covered a variety of topics including:

UN Sustainable Development Goals
the level of recycling in households
the weight of school bags.

Interesting findings from Phase 16 results:

Students spent over 5 hours on their mobile per day. See Figure 1. Female students reportedly spent over an hour extra on a mobile than males on average. Male students reported that they spent 6 times longer than female students playing games on a PC or games console. See Figure 2.

In 2016, the vast majority of students carry their bag on both shoulders. See Figure 3. Comparing the data to phase 12 data (published in 2013), female students show almost no change in how they carry their school bag, however males are now more likely to carrying their school bag on two shoulders in 2016 than 2012. See Figure 4a and 4b.

A greater proportion of 6^th year students (over 50%) responded with a high level of concern in relation to climate change. See Figure 5.

Irish students ranked the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) “No Hunger” as the most important SDG goal to them. The least important goal was “Partnership For The Goals”. See Table 1.

Students reported that over three quarters of their families engage in recycling. It is more popular than composting or using renewable energies. See Figure 6. Over a third of families engage in recycling alone (35%) and over a third (36%) engage in recycling and composting. See Figure 7.

Paper/Cardboard is the most popular item by families as reported by the students. See Figure 8.

The most popular method of composting is using the brown bin and the most popular source of renewable energy is solar. See Figure 9 and 10.

Over half of students (54%) reported that climate is the main factor when their family decide on a holiday destination with cost of the holiday coming close second (52%). See Figure 11.

Students were asked to indicate which colour was their favourite. Both male and female students selected blue as their preferred choice. See Figure 12a and 12b.

Students were asked to indicate what one word described how they felt at that moment. For female students the most popular term was “Tired”. For male students the most popular term was “Happy”. See Figure 13a and 13b.

Background information:

CensusAtSchool is a non-profit making international project. It is funded by organisations interested in promoting good use of statistics, mathematics and data handling. Ireland became involved in CensusAtSchool in 2009. Four Irish bodies are collaborating in this project:

the Professional Development Service for Teachers (PDST)
the CSO
Project Maths
the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).

The Irish website, www.censusatschool.ie, has been in place since 2009.

X-axis label	Female	Male
Listening to Radio	0.6378491	0.7099698
Playing Games on a PC/console	0.453882	2.8368457
On a PC/iPad/ Tablet	2.0655371	2.4230874
Watching TV	2.6627893	2.2230484
On Mobile	5.8675777	4.7255263

X-axis label	Female	Male
On two shoulders (e.g. backpack)	86	86.01
On one shoulder	11.1	10.62
Other	1.3	1.28
On wheels	1.12	1.68
In my hand	0.47	0.41

	Female	Male
2012	11.83	16.73
2016	11.1	10.62

	Female	Male
2012	85.97	78.71
2016	86	86.01

	Low level of concern	Medium level of concern	High level of concern
1st year	21.33	34.44	44.24
2nd year	25.67	32.93	41.4
3rd year	31.4	27.91	40.7
Transition Year	20.1	35.9	43.99
5th year	30.18	34.55	35.27
6th year	19.27	27.52	53.21

	% who responded yes to the question
Recycling	78.3059636992221
Composting	42.7542494958225
Renewable energy	8.12445980985307

Figure 7 Environmentally friendly practices engaged in by families of students

Table 1: UN Sustainable Development Goals ranked by students and displayed in order of most important
UN Sustainable Development Goal	Rank
No Hunger	1
Good Health	2
No Poverty	3
Clean Water & Sanitation	4
Peace & Justice	5
Quality Education	6
Gender & Equality	7
Good Jobs & Economic Growth	8
Climate Action	9
Renewable Energy	10
Life On Land	11
Sustainable Cities & Communities	12
Reduce Inequalities	13
Responsible Consumption	14
Life Below Water	15
Innovation & Infrastructure	16
Partnerships For The Goals	17

	% of families who recycle these materials
Paper/cardboard	69.26
Plastic	63.7
Glass	54.54
Tin/Aluminum cans	52.84
Batteries	41.4
Electrical items	28.9
Other	4.49

	% of families who use this composting method
Brown bin	57.89
Personal compost	37.92
Local compost facility	2.16
Other	2.02

	% of families who use this renewable energy source
Solar	74.73
Geothermal	8.19
Wind	6.05
Hydroelectric	4.63
Wave	2.85
Biomass	1.78
Tidal	1.78

	% of students who reported that this was a factor for their family when determining their holiday destination
Climate	53.82
Cost	51.63
Safety	36.16
Cultural (Sport/entertainment)	28.67
Visit family	22.76
Environment	21.29
Education	5.53
Other	3.46

	% chosen by female students
Blue	31.43
Purple	12.34
Pink	10.1
Black	6.82
Green	6.3

	% chosen by male students
Blue	34.57
Red	18.34
Green	13.48
Black	7.26
Orange	4.31

	% chosen by female students
Tired	24.16
Happy	18.49
Bored	6.3
Hungry	3.71
Confused	2.8

	% chosen by male students
Happy	21.09
Tired	11.51
Bored	8.15
Good	4.93
Grand	2.64

Show Background Notes

Background Notes

About CensusAtSchools

The Royal Statistical Centre for Statistical Education (RSSCSE) started the CensusAtSchool project in 2000 in conjunction with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) in the UK. The project, originally a one-off, was linked to the UK population census of 2001. It has now developed into a dynamic, on-going and exciting initiative running in a number of countries. Further information can be found here:

USA http://ww2.amstat.org/censusatschool/index.cfm

Canada http://www.censusatschool.ca/

Australia http://www.abs.gov.au/censusatschool

New Zealand http://new.censusatschool.org.nz/explore/

UK http://www.censusatschool.com/

Japan http://census.ism.ac.jp/cas/

Sample

3,471 secondary school attendees from 124 secondary schools completed the Phase 16 questionnaire of the CensusAtSchool survey between September 2016 and August 2017. Because the survey is voluntary and not part of a representative sampling process, the results of the survey are less reliable in providing inferences about the overall secondary school student population.

Questionnaire

The CensusAtSchool Phase 16 questionnaire and more results from the survey can be found on the CensusAtSchool website at http://www.censusatschool.ie/en/take-part/questionnaires

A data tool for examining international CensusAtSchool data can be found:

http://censusatschool.com/getmydata.php

http://new.censusatschool.org.nz/explore/

It can be further explored using the facilities inbuilt in the inZight site operated by Statistics New Zealand.

https://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~wild/iNZight/index.php

Map 1. Student participation in CensusAtSchool Phase 16 questionnaire classified by school's county‌

Map 1 Student participation in CensusAtSchool Phase 16 questionnaire classified

‌‌

Note: The map only includes survey responses when the roll number on the questionnaire response matched a school roll number provided by the Department of Education and Skills.

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