Scotland's People Annual report: Results from 2009 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: ⁴⁷To 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: ⁴⁸ 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, 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.

New information was captured through the SHS in 2009 relating to opportunities for children and young people to play in their neighbourhood and participate in a range of activities. The questions measure attitudes to a number of issues that are known to be either enablers or barriers to delivering such opportunities for young people. The SHS provides the only known information on this type of data.

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.

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, 2009 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	13	38	34	28	22	16	26
HNC/ HND or equivalent	10	9	9	16	13	10	6	3	12
Higher, A level or equivalent	17	14	31	15	15	15	9	7	15
O Grade, Standard Grade or equivalent	21	19	37	21	23	19	10	4	20
Other qualification	5	6	1	1	1	4	13	16	6
No qualifications	21	24	7	9	13	23	40	53	23
Qualification unknown	0	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	1
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	5,442	7,101	1,036	1,686	2,170	3,101	2,925	1,625	12,543

Just under one-quarter (23%) 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 7 times as many of those aged 75 and over reporting having no qualifications than those aged 16 to 24 (53% and 7% respectively). 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.

Established links between degree level qualifications and higher incomes can be seen among working adults interviewed as part of the SHS. Just over one-in-six (16%) of those in the lowest income bracket have a degree or professional qualification compared with just over a half of the working age respondents with the highest incomes (52%). Additionally, those of working age in the highest income brackets were considerably less likely to have no qualifications. Around a third (32%) of adults with a household income of between £6,001 and £10,000 had no qualifications, compared with 4% of adults earning over £40,000.

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

Column percentages, 2009 data

Adults of working age (Male 16-64 years, Female 16-59 years)	£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	16	12	13	22	25	28	30	52	28
HNC/ HND or equivalent	11	8	11	9	10	12	14	12	11
Higher, A level or equivalent	21	14	14	15	17	16	20	19	17
O Grade, Standard Grade or equivalent	21	29	28	30	24	27	23	13	24
Other qualification	4	4	4	5	4	2	2	1	3
No qualifications	26	32	29	19	19	13	10	4	16
Qualification unknown	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Base	395	848	1,412	1,301	1,132	946	1,394	1,426	8,854

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: ⁴⁹

• 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 (88%) 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).

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

Percentages, 2009 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	87	88	88
The school explains how I can support {child}'s learning outside school	79	80	80
Base	405	2,475	2,880

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

Table 7.3 shows that for two of the three aspects noted above, satisfaction levels are similar for parents in the 15% most deprived areas and in the rest of Scotland. However, there is a small difference when it comes to satisfaction with the education provided by their school: 89% of parents in the 15% most deprived areas say they are satisfied with this compared with 92% of those in the rest of Scotland. 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: Satisifaction with schooling by Urban Rural Classification

Percentages, 2009 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	92	91	93	90	92	87	92
The school keeps me well informed about {child}'s progress	90	86	89	86	88	88	88
The school explains how I can support {child}'s learning outside school	82	79	82	81	80	74	80
Base	913	899	277	137	351	303	2,880

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, this 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 (89%).

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

Percentages, 2007/2008 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	96	93	93	88	92
The school keeps me well informed about {child}'s progress	93	90	89	84	88
The school explains how I can support {child}'s learning outside school	89	83	81	74	80
Base	482	665	675	1,059	2,881

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. ⁵⁰ 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 at least two-fifths of households have access to play areas within their neighbourhood. Over half (51%) have access to a park, whilst 39% can access a school playground. There are some differences based on the level of deprivation. In particular, of those households within the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland only 22% 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 (72% or less) 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 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and Urban Rural Classification

Percentages, 2009 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Playground	41	48	56	55	50	41	45
Park	51	54	59	49	45	34	51
Football or other games pitch	36	44	54	45	43	40	41
Field or other open space	35	48	58	44	63	65	45
School playground	35	43	50	37	40	38	39
Natural environment / wooded area	27	41	58	44	65	72	40
Base	3,168	2,115	628	379	770	700	7,760

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Playground	42	46	45
Park	47	52	51
Football or other games pitch	41	41	41
Field or other open space	37	47	45
School playground	34	40	39
Natural environment / wooded area	22	44	40
Base	1,274	6,486	7,760

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). For example, 56% of householders in large urban areas think it would be safe to travel to a playground, compared to 80% in remote rural areas.

It should be noted that when considering traveling to play on the streets around the respondent's home, those from accessible small towns and remote small towns have the highest proportion saying it would be safe (53% and 47% respectively).

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 and from 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 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and Urban Rural Classification

Percentages, 2009 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Playground	56	67	74	73	75	80	65
Park	47	63	67	69	70	77	57
Football or other games pitch	58	61	66	72	67	75	62
Field or other open space	53	60	66	73	73	76	62
School playground	63	67	72	76	66	76	66
Natural environment/wooded area	38	40	47	52	59	70	47
Street/Road	37	49	53	47	47	45	43
Base	869	864	321	138	313	198	3,047

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Playground	51	68	65
Park	45	59	57
Football or other games pitch	55	64	62
Field or other open space	46	64	62
School playground	58	68	66
Natural environment/wooded area	31	49	47
Street/Road	37	44	43
Base	293	2,602	3,047

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 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. Seventy one percent of householders think it would be safe for children to travel to a some kind of playground, as compared to 65% for children traveling 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 with two or three friends to play

areas by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and Urban Rural Classification

Percentages, 2009 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Playground	65	73	78	76	79	81	71
Park	57	71	74	75	77	84	66
Football or other games pitch	66	70	71	78	72	77	69
Field or other open space	61	68	72	78	75	78	68
School playground	69	72	75	81	70	77	71
Natural environment/wooded area	44	48	54	59	65	71	53
Street/Road	39	50	55	47	49	45	45
Base	869	864	321	138	313	198	3,047

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Playground	58	74	71
Park	55	68	66
Football or other games pitch	62	71	69
Field or other open space	54	71	68
School playground	65	73	71
Natural environment/wooded area	37	55	53
Street/Road	40	46	45
Base	293	2,602	3,047

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). 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 (32 per cent). 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 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and Urban Rural Classification

Percentages, 2009 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Playground	47	47	40	45	30	24	43
Park	47	45	41	42	31	26	44
Football or other games pitch	46	48	38	44	30	25	43
Field or other open space	45	45	35	35	22	18	38
School playground	38	40	31	34	28	22	36
Natural environment/wooded area	46	50	42	40	26	16	40
Street/Road	37	35	23	28	21	16	32
Base	869	864	321	138	313	198	3,047

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Playground	55	41	43
Park	54	42	44
Football or other games pitch	55	40	43
Field or other open space	54	36	38
School playground	49	34	36
Natural environment/wooded area	59	38	40
Street/Road	47	29	32
Base	293	2,602	3,047

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 (46 per cent). 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 (59%) than in other areas of Scotland (44%).

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

Percentages, 2009 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Playground	39	37	28	32	26	19	35
Park	45	40	31	34	28	19	40
Football or other games pitch	39	41	30	34	28	23	37
Field or other open space	41	46	34	24	24	18	37
School playground	32	35	25	21	23	17	30
Natural environment/wooded area	52	57	45	39	32	20	46
Street/Road	34	33	21	24	23	18	31
Minimum Base(s)	869	864	321	138	313	198	3,047

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Playground	42	33	35
Park	48	38	40
Football or other games pitch	44	35	37
Field or other open space	45	36	37
School playground	42	28	30
Natural environment/wooded area	59	44	46
Street/Road	42	28	31
Minimum Base(s)	293	2,602	3,047

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

This question is only asked of half the sample.

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, 2009 data

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Playground	9.6	9.2	9.7	9.2	9.1	9.1	8.9	8.2	9.3
Park	10.3	9.8	10.4	9.7	9.4	9.1	9.2	8.4	9.6
Football or other games pitch	10.3	9.8	10.2	9.9	9.6	9.4	9.3	8.8	9.9
Field or other open space	10.3	9.6	10.1	9.9	9.7	9.7	9.2	8.3	9.7
School playground	9.8	9.3	9.6	9.4	9.1	9.0	9.1	8.6	9.3
Natural environment/wooded area	11.2	10.5	11.0	10.9	10.6	10.2	9.9	9.0	10.5
Street/Road	9.6	9.3	9.8	9.2	8.7	9.1	9.0	9.0	9.4
Base	448	2,736	1,133	914	335	184	359	259	3,185

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. Just over one quarter (26%) 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 or within mentoring or peer education.

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

Percentages, 2009 data

Households	Large urban areas	Other urban areas	Accessible small towns	Remote small towns	Accessible rural	Remote rural	Scotland
Music or drama activities	27	24	23	30	29	26	26
Other arts activities	7	5	6	6	6	7	6
Sports or sporting activity	50	54	59	52	60	61	54
Other outdoor activities	18	18	23	30	28	35	21
Other groups or clubs	22	23	25	20	26	29	23
Representing young people's views	3	3	4	1	2	5	3
Mentoring or peer education	2	3	4	1	5	3	3
None	26	25	23	21	19	16	21
Base	766	753	204	119	277	212	2,331

Households	15% most deprived	Rest of Scotland	Scotland
Music or drama activities	17	27	26
Other arts activities	5	6	6
Sports or sporting activity	45	56	54
Other outdoor activities	15	22	21
Other groups or clubs	20	24	23
Representing young people's views	2	3	3
Mentoring or peer education	1	3	3
None	33	22	24
Base	340	1,991	2,331

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 22% in the least deprived areas) and through the Urban Rural Classification (decreasing from 26% in large urban areas down to 16% in remote rural areas).

Those living in rural areas are more likely to have participated in some form of sporting activity (around 60%) as compared to those from towns and urban areas (50% in large urban areas). Participation in any of the activities is lower for those living in the 15% most deprived areas of Scotland: most notably, 45% regularly take part in sporting activities compared to 56% in the least deprived areas, with similar differences in those undertaking music or drama activities (17% and 27% respectively).