Our response to Active Lives Children and Young People Survey 2021-22

While activity levels for children have generally recovered following the pandemic, disabled children have not seen the same decrease in inactivity as their non-disabled peers. This trend is also seen in levels of enjoyment and attitudes towards physical activity. Other groups, particularly Black children and young people and children and young people from deprived areas, are also missing out on the same level of improvement.    

This year schools were fully open following the COVID-19 pandemic. But disruption continued with self-isolation, sickness absences, particularly with the rise of the Omicron variant in December 2021. This period also saw the beginning of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. This is expected to widen pre-existing inequalities and negatively impact access to sport and physical activity.

Kirsty Clarke, Director of Innovation and Business Development at Activity Alliance, said:

“We know that physical activity is vital to tackle the inequalities in all communities. It is more important than ever that all children can access the range of benefits being active brings. That almost a third of all disabled children were doing less than 30 minutes of physical activity each day shows the importance of the work we do.

“As the leading voice for all disabled people in sport and activity, we are aware of the many challenges involved in overturning existing inequalities. Overall, it is positive to see that children and young people’s activity levels have recovered to pre-pandemic level. But the data shows inactivity and other factors like loneliness among disabled children is greater than their non-disabled peers. We cannot let this become a long-term trend.

“Crucially, gathering research and insight inclusively and accessibly supports us all to gain a more realistic picture. We will continue to work with Sport England to ensure that more data is captured though inclusive measures in the future. This includes the activity levels of children from special educational needs (SEN) schools or children. Our partnership with Sport England, as well as our members, is crucial to achieving our vision, fairness for disabled people in sport and activity.”

Activity levels for disabled children

31% of disabled children were ‘less active’ (doing less than 30 minutes of physical activity each day) this year, compared to 29% of non-disabled children. Non-disabled children saw a significant improvement in activity levels, but for disabled children there was no change. This means that almost a third of disabled children are missing out on the well-established benefits of being active.

Like non-disabled children, disabled children were most likely to be inactive in school Years 3-4 (ages 7-9). 42% of disabled children in this age group were inactive (a significant increase from last year), compared to 38% of their non-disabled peers.

Other inequalities

The data shows persistent inequalities for several groups. Children going to school in the most deprived places and Black children have not seen their activity levels recover compared to before the pandemic.

Girls and children from less affluent families have seen improvements but remain less active than boys and children from more affluent families.

This highlights the importance of considering social and demographic factors in addition to a person’s impairment or health condition.

Number of impairments

The Active Lives data does not show a correlation between being less active and the number of impairments. However, there are challenges with inclusive research for large-scale surveys. We have heard concerns that the activity levels of children from Special Educational Needs (SEN) schools or those with profound needs are less represented in this research.

We, and others, have been working with Sport England to include schools in the data collection. We would hope to see this in next data release.

9% of disabled children attend a SEN school, and our research indicates children attending special schools are less active. Our report ‘My Active Future’ (2020) used inclusive methods to explore the experience for disabled children. 17% of those who took part in the survey attended a SEN school.

We undertook in-depth interviews with children with profound, multiple, and sensory impairments and their families. The research uncovered many differences, in activity levels, enjoyment, the barriers experienced, and participation across different types of activities.

Impairment differences

The data gives insight into the activity levels and experience of children with different types of impairments. Being less active is more common among children with visual and learning impairments (32% and 32%), as well as for those with mobility impairments (31%).

Please see the Active Lives data tables for more information on the data, and contact the National Disability Sports Organisations for support on engaging with children with specific impairments.

Attitudes and wellbeing

Like last year, the survey shows disabled children are less likely to have positive attitudes on enjoyment, confidence, competence, understanding, and knowledge in sport and physical activity than non-disabled children. Only 8% of disabled children have positive attitudes on all five measures, compared to 14% of non-disabled children. Worryingly, a third of disabled children have no positive attitudes.

While enjoyment and competence for non-disabled children has increased slightly this year, there has been no change for disabled children. The survey shows that as disabled children get older, they are less likely to have positive attitudes. Creating positive attitudes towards sport and activity from a young age is key to sustained participation.

The data also shows disabled children are more likely to feel lonely ‘often or always’ – 27% compared to 7% for their non-disabled peers. Loneliness levels for disabled children have still not recovered since the pandemic, when 24% of disabled children felt lonely ‘often or always’. Concerningly, nearly 1 in 3 children with 3 or more impairments feel lonely often or always. Being active and taking part in inclusive activities has a key role to play in tackling loneliness through making new friends and interacting with others.

Disabled children have lower mental wellbeing outcome scores than non-disabled children. For most measures, there have been no significant changes since last year. The data shows continued positive associations between being active with wellbeing measures, highlighting the importance of including disabled children in physical activity. Volunteering also has a positive effect on wellbeing – 28% of disabled children have volunteered in sports and activity (at least twice in the last 12 months), compared to 31% of children without impairments.  

Types of activities

The data does not show participation in types of activities for disabled and non-disabled children. Active play (62%), team sports (58%) and active travel (57%) are the most common activities done in the last week across all children and young people. Positively, the increase in active travel seen during the pandemic has been maintained, with 58.6% of all children walking, cycling, or scootering to school.

About the survey

This report presents data from the Active Lives Children and Young People Survey for the academic year 2021-22. Data is presented for children and young people in school Years 1-11 (ages 5-16) in England. Data was collected from over 100,000 children.

Data is compared with the academic year 2020-21, which contained a full year of COVID-19 restrictions.

Resources

We continue to support organisations and people who deliver activities to support disabled children be active.

Here are some useful resources:

• The Inclusion 2024 inclusive education hubbrings together all the essential resources for inclusive PE and school sport into one space for education practioners. Created in partnership by Activity Alliance, Youth Sport Trust and Department for Education. The ambition is to support more teachers responsible for PE to engage more disabled students.
• Our Inclusive PE Training Programme is now being delivered online through the Inclusion2024 hub. The course helps teachers and school staff to provide inclusive and high-quality PE experience to pupils. We continue to support Sport England’s Secondary Teacher Training Programme, with evidence on the impact of the programme on schools and students available.
• Funded by Sport England, Studio You is a free online video platform, designed to engage less active girls aged 13-16 in PE lessons. Powered by the award winning This Girl Can campaign, Studio You is designed to be fun, inclusive, and empowering. It is packed full of content designed to get students of all activity levels inspired, excited, and energised by their physical education.
• The Chief Medical Officer recently published guidelines for physical activity for disabled children and young people. It is recommended that disabled children and young people undertake 120-180 minutes of aerobic physical activity per week at a moderate-to-vigorous intensity, and three strength and balance activities per week. A coproduced infographic of the key messages and benefits is available.
• Sense’s recent research report gives guidance for sport organisations on supporting families and children with complex disabilities to be active.
• Our ‘COVID-19: The impact on disabled people’ overview gives further insight of the impact of the pandemic on disabled children and their families.

More research or insight

Please get in touch with the research team at Activity Alliance to discuss the findings: research@activityalliance.org.uk