Scotland's People Annual Report: Results from 2011 Scottish Household Survey

7 Education and Young People

Introduction and Context

Ensuring that everyone in Scotland has equal access to learning opportunities to achieve their full potential and increase skill levels across the population is a key part of achieving the Scottish Government's purpose:^[57] To focus government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth. This is captured through one of the five strategic objectives:^[58] Expand opportunities for people in Scotland to succeed from nurture through to life long learning ensuring higher and more widely shared achievements.

Although the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) is not the definitive source of information about education and qualifications in Scotland^[59], it can contribute to the measurement of key education indicators. Education level is also an important factor that can be used in the wider analysis of the Survey's data, for example to explore differences in people's characteristics and attitudes by educational attainment.

This chapter starts with an overview of educational qualifications achieved across the population as a whole and across key sub groups. It then looks at levels of satisfaction with schooling, and how these vary with the type of area and age of the child. Analysis is then presented on the types of play areas available for children to play in, along with measures on perceptions of adults on how safe it is for children to play there. Finally, this chapter looks at the types of activities young people engage in within their local area.

Main Findings

• One-fifth (20%) of adults have no qualifications, with relatively little difference between males and females, though those with no qualifications are more likely to have lower incomes.
• Levels of satisfaction of schooling amongst parents are high, with over nine in ten (92%) of all parents with school aged children satisfied with the education provided by their child's school.
• Satisfaction parents have with schooling decreases slightly as the age of the school child increases, decreasing from 95% for those aged 4 to 6 down to 89% for those aged 13 and above.
• Typically around two-fifths of households have access to some form of play areas within their neighbourhood. A half have access to a park, and 46% have access to either a playground or field or other open space.
• Generally, those households within rural areas are more likely to say children would be very safe or fairly safe when walking or cycling to play areas on their own, ranging from around three-fifths for most play areas in urban areas to around four-fifths in rural areas.
• Most householders would feel comfortable with children being aged around 9 or 10 years old to play without supervision at such play areas. This increases to closer to 11 years old when playing within a natural environment or wooded area.
• Just over three-quarters (76%) of young people aged 8 to 21 take part in some of activities regularly, with the majority of young people (54%) taking part in sports or sporting activity whether played competitively or not.

Highest Qualification level

Table 7.1 and Table 7.2 present the proportions of people who attained qualifications by gender, age and, for those of working age, by household income. Respondents to the SHS are asked about a wide variety of qualifications and these have been condensed into the categories presented in the tables.

Table 7.1: Highest level of qualification held by gender and age

Column percentages, 2011 data

Adults	Male	Female	16 to 24	25 to 34	35 to 44	45 to 59	60 to 74	75 plus	All
Degree, Professional qualification	26	27	11	39	35	29	22	17	27
HNC/HND or equivalent	12	10	11	17	13	11	6	3	11
Higher, A level or equivalent	19	15	34	16	18	16	10	7	17
O Grade, Standard Grade or equivalent	20	20	35	19	22	20	14	6	20
Other qualification	4	6	2	1	1	3	11	15	5
No qualifications	19	22	6	7	10	21	36	51	20
Qualification unknown	1	1	0	1	1	1	1	1	1
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	5,559	7,334	1,022	1,741	2,055	3,217	3,127	1,731	12,893

One-fifth (20%) of all adults had none of the qualifications presented. Of these, by far the highest proportion was in the 75 and over age group, with over half (51%) having no qualifications There was little difference between men and women on the highest level of qualifications they held, though slightly more females reported having no qualifications than males (22% compared to 19%).

Established links between degree level qualifications and higher incomes can be seen among working adults interviewed as part of the SHS. Just under one-in-five (18%) of those in the lowest income bracket have a degree or professional qualification compared with half of the working age respondents with the highest incomes (50%). Additionally, those of working age in the highest income brackets were considerably less likely to have no qualifications (3%). Around a quarter of adults with a household income of less than £15,000 had no qualifications.

Table 7.2: Highest level of qualifications held by adults of working age by net annual household income

Column percentages, 2011 data

Working age adults (16-64)	£0 - £6,000	£6,001 - £10,000	£10,001 - £15,000	£15,001 - £20,000	£20,001 - £25,000	£25,001 - £30,000	£30,001 - £40,000	£40,001+	All
Degree, Professional qualification	18	14	14	20	27	30	34	50	29
HNC/HND or equivalent	10	10	11	11	14	16	13	13	13
Higher, A level or equivalent	22	18	16	21	16	20	21	19	19
O Grade, Standard Grade or equivalent	25	22	28	26	25	22	23	14	23
Other qualification	3	6	4	3	3	3	2	0	3
No qualifications	23	29	25	18	15	9	7	3	14
Qualification unknown	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	1
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	445	831	1,406	1,357	1,210	895	1,383	1,419	8,946

Household income in the SHS is that of the highest income householder and their partner only. Includes all adults for whom household income is known or has been imputed. Excludes refusals/don't know responses.

Satisfaction with Schooling

Parents of school aged children were asked about their satisfaction with the following three aspects of their child's schooling:^[60]

• the education provided;
• the school's explanation of how parents can support children's learning outside school; and
• the amount of information provided about their child's progress.

Type of area

Table 7.3 and Table 7.4 look at satisfaction with schooling according to the type of area in which parents live, based on the level of deprivation and urban rural classification. Overall levels of satisfaction with schooling are high. Over nine in ten (92%) of all parents with school-aged children are satisfied with the education provided by their child's school, slightly fewer (87%) are satisfied with the amount of information about their child's progress, and 80% are satisfied with the school's explanation of what support children need outside school (the tables present the items in order of the level of satisfaction, rather than the order presented in the questionnaire). These are broadly comparable to estimates from 2009/2010.

Table 7.3: Satisfaction with schooling by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Percentages, 2011 data

Parents of school aged children, % strongly agreed/tend to agree	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
I am satisfied with the education provided by the school	89	92	92
The school keeps me well informed about {child}'s progress	86	87	87
The school explains how I can support {child}'s learning outside school	78	81	80
Base	392	2,320	2,712

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses were allowed.

Table 7.3 shows that for all three aspects noted above, satisfaction levels are similar for parents in the 15% most deprived areas and in the rest of Scotland, though those in the deprived areas are slightly lower. Table 7.4 demonstrates that levels of satisfaction with all aspects of schooling are similarly high across all urban and rural areas, though slightly less satisfaction within remote rural areas particularly when considering whether the school explains how it can support the child's learning outside of the school.

Table 7.4: Satisfaction with schooling by Urban Rural Classification

Percentages, 2011 data

Parents of school aged children, % strongly agreed/tend to agree	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
I am satisfied with the education provided by my school	90	93	91	94	92	92	92
The school keeps me well informed about {child}'s progress	86	88	83	88	89	87	87
The school explains how I can support {child}'s learning outside school	79	82	83	83	80	76	80
Base	861	862	267	143	335	246	2,714

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses were allowed.

Age of child

Parents' satisfaction with schooling can differ depending on the age of their child, which could reflect different levels of satisfaction with primary schools compared to secondary schools, or it could be the result of changing expectations for their children as they get older. As Table 7.5 demonstrates, satisfaction with the different elements of schooling does decrease as the age of the child increases. There is a more pronounced effect when considering the statement that their child's school explains how they can support their learning outside school: satisfaction is lower among parents of children aged 13 and over (74%) than it is for parents of the youngest school children (87%).

Table 7.5: Satisfaction with schooling by age of random school child

Percentages, 2011 data

Parents of school aged children, % strongly agreed/tend to agree	4 to 6	7 to 9	10 to 12	13 and above	All
I am satisfied with the education provided by my school	95	93	91	89	92
The school keeps me well informed about {child}'s progress	91	89	86	84	87
The school explains how I can support {child}'s learning outside school	87	85	81	74	80
Base	447	642	645	981	2,715

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses were allowed.

Opportunities for children to play

At the start of 2009, a series of questions on the opportunities for children to play in their neighbourhood was added to the SHS to measure progress on the Early Years Framework.^[61] A key element of this framework is in improving the physical and social environment for children, with an emphasis on play. The set of questions is asked in one of two ways. If there is a child aged between 6 and 12 years, the questions will be set in the context of one of the children in the household. Otherwise, when there are no children in the household the questions will be asked in more general terms.

Table 7.6 shows that around two-fifths of households have access to play areas within their neighbourhood. A half (50%) have access to a park, whilst 46% can access either a playground or field or other open space. There are some differences based on the level of deprivation. In particular, of those households within the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland only 26% say there is a natural environment or wooded area in their neighbourhood, as compared to 44% in the rest of Scotland.

There is evidence of greater variation in access to play areas for children when considering the level of rurality. As expected, much higher proportion of households in rural areas have access to either fields (around 65%) and natural environment or wooded areas (around 66%) than urban areas. Those from the large urban areas generally have the lowest proportion of households being able to access children play areas, other than parks (51%).

Table 7.6: Types of children play areas available in the neighbourhood by Urban Rural Classification and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Percentages, 2011 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Playground	40	51	61	51	43	39	46
Park	51	51	65	44	43	28	50
Football or other games pitch	31	43	49	36	36	36	37
Field or other open space	34	50	60	44	60	65	46
School playground	31	42	45	44	31	31	36
Natural environment / wooded area	28	45	58	40	59	66	42
Base	2,610	2,157	620	371	783	635	7,176

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Playground	43	46	46
Park	48	50	50
Football or other games pitch	39	37	37
Field or other open space	38	48	46
School playground	33	37	36
Natural environment / wooded area	26	44	42
Base	1,047	6,125	7,172

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses were allowed.

This question is only asked of half the sample.

Generally, those households within rural areas are more likely to say children would be very safe or fairly safe when walking or cycling to play areas on their own (Table 7.7), ranging from around three-fifths for most play areas in urban areas to around four-fifths in rural areas.

There are also marked differences in feeling of safety when looking at deprivation. Those in the least deprived areas of Scotland are more likely to say it is safer for children to travel on their own to such play areas than those in the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland.

Table 7.7: How safe it would be for children to walk or cycle to play areas on their own by Urban Rural Classification and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Percentages, 2011 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Playground	63	67	73	80	71	80	68
Park	51	61	70	74	72	76	60
Football or other games pitch	59	66	64	79	70	75	65
Field or other open space	58	62	65	71	73	80	64
School playground	65	69	74	76	72	79	69
Natural environment / wooded area	41	43	50	65	64	74	50
Street/Road	46	52	59	46	48	54	50
Base (minimum)	1,054	1,084	378	198	336	235	3,285

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Playground	57	69	68
Park	45	62	60
Football or other games pitch	56	67	65
Field or other open space	50	66	64
School playground	60	71	69
Natural environment / wooded area	31	52	50
Street/Road	46	50	50
Base (minimum)	449	2,834	3,283

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses were allowed.

This question is only asked of half the sample.

Table 7.8 shows similar patterns of variation when considering how safe it would be for children to go to play areas with two or three friends to play. Again, those in rural areas are generally more likely to say they think children would be safer than those living in urban areas. Intuitively, the overall feeling of safety for each type of play area are higher when going with two or three friends than they are when children travel alone. There is little difference in feelings of safety when considering the streets around the respondent's home.

Table 7.8: How safe it would be for children to go to play areas with 2 or 3 friends by Urban Rural Classification and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Percentages, 2011 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Playground	69	74	79	85	76	84	74
Park	60	69	77	81	79	80	68
Football or other games pitch	67	71	73	79	76	79	71
Field or other open space	65	67	72	77	76	83	70
School playground	68	72	78	77	75	81	73
Natural environment / wooded area	48	50	56	72	67	78	56
Street/Road	48	53	60	49	49	57	51
Base (minimum)	1,054	1,084	378	198	336	235	3,285

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Playground	63	76	74
Park	53	70	68
Football or other games pitch	64	73	71
Field or other open space	57	72	70
School playground	65	74	73
Natural environment / wooded area	36	58	56
Street/Road	50	52	51
Base (minimum)	449	2,834	3,283

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses were allowed.

This question is only asked of half the sample.

Householders concerns of children being bullied or harmed by other children while playing in play areas show little variation across the different types of play areas (Table 7.9), though the lowest proportion of those with a concern over bullying by other children are for those playing within the streets around the respondent's home (25%). The next lowest is within school playgrounds, which may be associated with a greater likelihood of supervision by adults.

As before, there are marked differences when looking at impacts or rurality and deprivation. Those from rural areas are less concerned about bullying by other children (less than one third across all play areas) as compared to those from urban areas (up to a half of householders are concerned across all play areas).

Table 7.9: Concern of bullying by children in play areas by Urban Rural Classification and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Percentages, 2011 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Playground	41	43	36	38	27	20	38
Park	46	43	36	39	29	26	41
Football or other games pitch	41	40	38	36	28	23	38
Field or other open space	42	43	30	42	20	14	36
School playground	37	34	28	38	24	15	33
Natural environment / wooded area	45	49	38	44	23	11	39
Street/Road	29	26	18	30	17	11	25
Base (minimum)	1,054	1,084	378	198	336	235	3,285

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Playground	56	35	38
Park	56	39	41
Football or other games pitch	52	35	38
Field or other open space	52	33	36
School playground	46	30	33
Natural environment / wooded area	63	36	39
Street/Road	36	23	25
Base (minimum)	36	23	25

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses were allowed.

This question is only asked of half the sample.

There is less concern amongst householders of children being harmed by adults whilst playing in play areas (Table 7.10), though those saying they are very or fairly concerned are still high at around one third or higher within each play area. The greatest concern of safety is related to those playing within a natural environment or wooded area (42%). In particular, those from the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland are much more likely to be concerned about the safety of children in coming to harm by adults in wooded areas (60%) than in other areas of Scotland (41%).

Table 7.10: Concern of children being harmed by adults in play areas by Urban Rural Classification and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Percentages, 2011 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Playground	35	35	27	32	23	13	32
Park	43	39	28	34	24	20	37
Football or other games pitch	37	36	26	28	28	18	33
Field or other open space	41	41	30	35	22	14	35
School playground	30	28	20	31	20	10	26
Natural environment / wooded area	49	52	45	42	27	13	42
Street/Road	28	26	17	25	17	11	24
Base (minimum)	1,054	1,084	378	198	336	235	3,285

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Playground	45	29	32
Park	49	35	37
Football or other games pitch	49	35	37
Field or other open space	48	33	35
School playground	35	25	26
Natural environment / wooded area	60	41	42
Street/Road	32	23	24
Base (minimum)	449	2,834	3,283

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses were allowed.

This question is only asked of half the sample.

Table 7.11 shows the median age at which households believe the youngest age should be when it would be safe for a child to play in each of the different play areas without supervision. As can be seen, most would feel comfortable with children being aged around 9 or 10 years old to play without supervision at such play areas. This increases to closer to 11 years old when playing within a natural environment or wooded area.

Table 7.11: Youngest age at which it would be safe for a child to play without supervision by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and Urban Rural Classification

Percentages, 2011 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Playground	9.5	9.4	9.1	8.6	8.6	8.1	9.2
Park	10.4	9.7	9.3	8.9	8.8	8.4	9.8
Football or other games pitch	10.0	9.8	9.8	8.8	9.0	8.5	9.7
Field or other open space	10.2	10.0	9.8	9.2	8.8	8.1	9.7
School playground	9.5	9.3	9.3	8.9	8.5	8.2	9.2
Natural environment / wooded area	11.0	11.0	10.8	9.9	9.8	9.0	10.6
Street/Road	9.3	8.9	8.8	9.2	9.1	9.0	9.1
Base	1,054	1,084	378	198	336	235	3,285

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Playground	9.6	9.2	9.2
Park	10.4	9.7	9.8
Football or other games pitch	10.2	9.6	9.7
Field or other open space	10.4	9.6	9.7
School playground	9.7	9.2	9.2
Natural environment / wooded area	11.6	10.4	10.6
Street/Road	9.3	9.0	9.1
Base	449	2,834	3,285

Median age presented

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses were allowed.

This question is only asked of half the sample.

Those living in the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland believe children should be slightly older before being allowed to play unsupervised. Similarly, those living in rural areas believe children can be slightly younger before being allowed to play unsupervised (aged just over 8 in playgrounds for example).

Participation in activities

The Scottish Government is interested in the extent to which young adults and children are involved in a range of activities. Those households for which there is someone aged between 8 and 21 are asked a series of questions within the SHS on whether they take part in a series of activities regularly. A fuller description of the activities are provided in the Glossary in Annex 2.

Table 7.12 shows that the majority of young people (54%) take part in sports or sporting activity whether played competitively or not. One quarter (24%) take part in music or drama activities (such playing in a band or a theatre group). Three per cent of young people are involved representing young people's views or involvement in youth politics while four per cent are involved in mentoring or peer education.

Table 7.12: Activities young people aged 8 to 21 take part in by Urban Rural Classification and Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Percentages, 2011 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Music or drama activities	25	21	26	21	29	30	24
Other arts activities	8	7	6	4	8	8	7
Sports or sporting activity	56	53	52	46	57	56	54
Other outdoor activities	17	20	20	26	27	34	21
Other groups or clubs	21	23	27	30	28	32	24
Representing young people's views	3	2	4	2	4	4	3
Mentoring or peer education	4	3	4	1	3	4	4
None	24	27	24	28	21	13	24
Base	884	791	225	146	292	215	2,553

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Music or drama activities	19	25	24
Other arts activities	8	7	7
Sports or sporting activity	46	56	54
Other outdoor activities	19	21	21
Other groups or clubs	19	25	24
Representing young people's views	3	3	3
Mentoring or peer education	2	4	4
None	33	23	24
Base	392	2,160	2,552

Columns may add to more than 100% since multiple responses were allowed.

This question is only asked of half the sample.

There are clear patterns in those not taking part in any of the activities within deprivation (33% in the 15% most deprived compared to 23% in the least deprived areas) and through the Urban Rural Classification (from around a quarter in urban areas down to 13% in remote rural areas). Those in remote rural areas are most likely to take part in other outdoor activities (34%) which may reflect more informal and independent activities.

Participation in any of the activities is lower for those living in the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland: most notably, 46% regularly take part in sporting activities compared to 56% in the least deprived areas, with similar differences in those undertaking music or drama activities (19% and 25% respectively).