NISRA logo
DfC logo

Experience of culture, arts and heritage by young people in Northern Ireland
Findings from the Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey

An Official Statistics publication
Published by: Professional Services Unit

Contact: Professional Services Unit
Email:
Tel: 028 9051 5424
Coverage: Northern Ireland
Frequency: Triennial
Publication Date: 16 November 2023

Main Stories

  • Overall, almost all young people (96%) had engaged with culture, arts and heritage at least once within the previous year, with girls more likely to have engaged than boys (98% and 94% respectively).
  • Just over nine in every ten young people (91%) had engaged with the arts in the previous year, with pupils entitled to free school meals (87%) less likely to have engaged than those not entitled (92%).
  • Over two-fifths (43%) of all young people had used the public library service at least once in the last year, with pupils in Year 8 (61%) more likely to use the service than those in Year 12 (29%).
  • Seven in every ten young people (70%) had visited a historic building, garden, monument or city/town with historic character over the 12 months prior to the 2022 survey.

Introduction

Among other policy areas, the Department for Communities (DfC) is the lead department for arts and creativity, museums, libraries, languages and heritage. This bulletin provides headline analysis on some of these areas.

Engagement in culture, arts and heritage includes:

  • Engagement in the arts (includes both arts participation and arts attendance)
  • Usage of the public library service
  • Visits to museums and science centres
  • Visits a place of historic interest

Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey

This report presents the findings from the 2022 Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey (YPBAS) in relation to engagement with culture, arts and heritage in Northern Ireland which are used to inform the development, monitoring and evaluation of policy. It is worth noting that while all sectors were operating in 2022, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic may partly explain the generally lower engagement by young people when compared with engagement in previous years. More information relating to YPBAS, methodology, definitions and the interpretation of the figures can be found in the Definitions & technical notes section. Data tables are available in Excel and ODS format. The questions that were asked in YPBAS 2022 are available here.

Engagement in culture, arts and heritage

Almost all young people (96%) had engaged with culture, arts and heritage at least once within the previous year. This is a slight decrease on the proportion of young people who engaged in 2019 (97%).

Girls (98%) were more likely to have engaged with activities associated with culture, arts and heritage within the last year than boys (94%). The proportions of girls and boys who engaged in 2022 are slightly lower than the proportions who engaged in 2019 (99% and 96% respectively).

Religion did not have any bearing on engagement rates with no difference in the proportions of young people from the Protestant and Catholic communities engaging with culture, arts and heritage within the last year (both 96%). There was also no difference in engagement between young people who have a disability and those who do not have a disability for engagement with culture, arts and heritage (97% and 96% respectively).

The proportions of young people who had engaged with culture, arts and heritage decreased slightly as the School Year Group increased, from nearly all young people in Year 8 (98%) to 95% of young people in Year 12.


Young people who were entitled to free school meals were less likely to have engaged with culture, arts and heritage within the previous year 93%, compared with 97% of those who were not entitled to free school meals.

Engaged with culture, arts and heritage - Free school meals


Arts

Participation in arts activities

In 2022, just over seven in every ten young people (71%) participated in arts activities. This is higher than the 66% of young people who participated in the arts in 2019. In comparison with 2019, there was a increase in participation for boys, girls, pupils in Year 11 and 12, those from a Catholic background, people with or without a disability and those not entitled to free school meals. In 2022, more girls than boys participated in arts activities (83% and 59% respectively).


The proportion of young people who participated in arts activities reduced as the School Year Group of pupils increased, with 80% of those in Year 8 participating in the arts compared to 65% of those in Year 12.


Pupils with a disability were more likely to have participated in arts activities than those who do not have a disability (77% and 69% respectively). It should be noted that YPBAS continues to be carried out in mainstream schools and therefore will not be representative of all young people with a disability. Year-on-year comparisons by group, however, are valid. Participation rates among pupils who were entitled to free school meals were lower than those not entitled to free school meals (68% and 72% respectively).

Types of arts activities

The three most popular arts activities of young people in the previous year, were “Painting, drawing, sculpture or printmaking” (37%), “Played a musical instrument for your own pleasure” (30%), and “Danced” (25%). These activities have remained the same top three arts activities in the past three surveys, only the order has changed.

Attendance at arts events

In 2022, 83% of young people attended an arts event, a decrease on the 85% of young people who attended in 2019. Since 2019, arts attendance has decreased for young people across some demographic groups including boys, pupils in Year 8, young people from a Protestant background, those who do not have a disability and those not entitled to free school meals.

In 2022, girls (88%) were more likely than boys (77%) to have attended the arts. Analysis by School Year Group shows that attendance at arts events remained relatively consistent across the year groups.


Similar proportions of Catholic and Protestant pupils attended an arts event (84% and 82% respectively). There was also no difference between the proportions of young people who have and do not have a disability in relation to arts attendance in 2022 (both 83% respectively). However, pupils entitled to free school meals were less likely to attend an arts event (75%) than pupils not entitled to free school meals (84%).

Attended an arts events - Free school meals


When young people who only attend a cinema are excluded from the analysis attendance at arts events reduces to 63%. It is worth noting, however, that particularly for young people, going to the cinema is a key part of their social inclusion activities.

Types of arts events

The most popular arts events attended by young people in the last year were cinema (70%), museums (23%) and pantomime or musical (22%). These remain the same most popular arts events from the previous three years’ surveys.

Engagement in the arts

In 2022, 91% of young people engaged with the arts (i.e. participated in an arts activity or attended an arts event) in the last year, similar to the proportion of young people who engaged with the arts in 2019 (90%).

In 2022, nearly all girls (96%) engaged with the arts compared with 86% of boys. When looking at year group, engagement rates remained similar for pupils across all year groups.

Since 2019, arts engagement rates have remained consistent across all demographic groups apart from young people with a disability who saw their engagement rates increase in 2022 compared to the previous year (93% and 89% respectively).

Similar proportions of Catholic (91%) and Protestant (90%) pupils engaged with the arts. Young people who have a disability were more likely to have engaged in the arts than those who do not have a disability (93% and 90% respectively). Pupils entitled to free school meals (87%) were less likely to have engaged with the arts over the last year than those not entitled to free school meals (92%).

Benefits to engaging in the arts

Over six out of every ten young people (64%) who had engaged in the arts cited having fun as a benefit. Almost a third stated that it had a positive impact on their well-being (32%) as a main benefit. Other popular benefits stated by young people include; “It allowed me to spend time with my family or friends” (29%), “It improved my knowledge” (24%), “I learned new skills/developed existing skills” (21%), and “I enjoyed being creative” (19%).

Over one out of every ten young people (13%) felt that they “Did not feel any benefits” from engaging in the arts.

These reasons were similar to the benefits cited by young people in 2019, albeit in a different order.


Enjoyment of the arts

For those young people who attended an arts event, almost all (94%) had enjoyed the last event they attended either a lot or a little. Just over one in twenty (6%) said they did not enjoy the arts event at all. Boys (9%) were more likely to have not enjoyed an arts event than girls (3%).



Encourage attendance to the arts

Just over a third of young people stated that someone to go with (35%) or lower costs (35%) would encourage them to attend arts events. Other factors cited by young people that would encourage them to attend were; “Venues closer to where I live” (26%), “More aware of what events are on” (21%) and “Better quality performances and events” (20%).

When analysed by gender, girls were more likely to state lower costs, having someone to go with and venues closer to where they live as the main factors that would encourage them to attend than boys. However, boys were more likely than girls to state that nothing would encourage them to attend as they are just not interested.


Arts tuition

Young people who had participated in an arts activity were asked how often, if at all, they have received tuition from an instructor (other than their teacher during normal lessons) to help improve their performance in any art activity.

Just over half of young people had received arts tuition from an instructor in the last year (51%). Over a quarter of young people who participated had tuition at least once a week (28%). Around five per cent of young people had arts tuition at least once a month (6%) or once every 2-3 months (5%) and just over one in every ten (12%) had received arts tuition once or twice in the last year.

Girls were more likely to have had arts tuition than boys, and in particular to have the tuition at least once a week.

School Year group was also a factor in relation to arts tuition with 61% of pupils in Year 8 having had arts tuition at least once in the last year compared to 43% of pupils in Year 12.


Young people who have a disability were less likely to have received arts tuition at least once in the past year compared to those who do not have a disability (47% and 53% respectively). Similarly, pupils who are entitled to free school meals were less likely to have received arts tuition than those who are not entitled (44% and 53% respectively).

Museums and science centres

Visited a museum or science centre

Over half of young people (53%) had visited a museum or science centre within the last year, this is lower than the proportion in 2019 (69%). A higher proportion of girls had visited a museum or science centre compared to boys (57% and 50% respectively).


The proportions of young people who had visited a museum or science centre within the last year decreased as the year group increased with 60% of those in Year 8 having visited compared to 45% of those in Year 12.


Similar proportions of young people from the Protestant community (53%) and from the Catholic community (52%) had visited a museum or science centre within the last year. There was no difference between young people with a disability and those who do not have a disability when looking at visits to a museum or science centre within the last year (54% and 53% respectively).

Young people who are entitled to free school meals were less likely to have visited a museum or science centre within the last year with 46% having visited, compared to 55% of those who were not entitled to free school meals.

Who you visited a museum or science centre with

The majority of young people who had been to a museum or science centre within the last year stated that they had gone with family or friends (84%). Almost a third (31%) stated that they had gone on a school trip, with 8% stating they had been with a club or group (e.g. youth club).


Those who were entitled to free school meals were less likely to have gone with family or friends (77%) compared with those not entitled to free school meals (85%).

Visited a National Museums Northern Ireland museum

National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) has four museums across Northern Ireland, the Ulster Museum with free entry and three paid museums, the Ulster Folk Museum, the Ulster Transport Museum and the Ulster American Folk Park.

Two-fifths of the young people surveyed (40%) had been to a NMNI museum within the last year, this is lower than the proportion that visited a NMNI museum in 2019 (53%). Girls were more likely (44%) than boys (37%) to have visited a NMNI museum within the last year.


The proportions of young people who had visited a NMNI museum within the last year generally decreased as year group increased, with 43% of those in Year 8 having visited compared to 34% of those in Year 12.


Similar proportions of Protestant (41%) and Catholic (38%) pupils visited a NMNI museum within the last year. In addition, similar proportions of young people with a disability and those who do not have a disability visited a NMNI museum in the last year (41% and 40% respectively).

Young people who are entitled to free school meals were less likely to have visited a NMNI museum in the year prior to the survey, with just over a third (34%) having visited, compared to 42% of those were not entitled to free school meals.

Museums and science centres visited

The most popular museum or science centre was Ulster Museum, with almost a third (31%) of the young people surveyed having visited in the year prior to survey. Over a quarter of young people had visited W5 (26%) and around a tenth visited the Ulster American Folk Park (13%), the Ulster Folk Museum (10%) and the Ulster Transport Museum (9%) in the year prior to the survey.

Considering gender, a higher proportion of girls visited the Ulster Museum (33%), the Ulster American Folk Park (15%) and the Ulster Folk Museum (11%) in the last year, compared with boys (28%, 11%, and 9% respectively).

Benefits experienced from visiting a museum or science centre

Around two-thirds of young people stated that they “had fun” (67%) or improved their knowledge (65%) as benefits when visiting a museum or science centre.

Other benefits experienced by young people who had visited a museum or science centre at least once within the previous year include: “Learn new skills / developed existing skills” (24%), “Helped me with studies for school” (19%) and “Helped me think about a future career” (15%). Around one in seven (16%) young people who had visited a museum or science centre stated that they had experienced “No benefit” as a result.


When analysed by gender, boys were more likely than girls to state “Helped me think about a future career”, “Developed my confidence” and “Improved health”, whereas girls were more likely than boys to state “I had fun”, “Helped me with studies for school” and “Enabled me to communicate with family/friends” as benefits of visiting a museum or science centre.

Visited a museum and school

Five per cent of young people stated that a museum had visited their class within the last 12 months. Those young people who had visited a museum or science over the last year were more likely to have a visit from the museum to their classroom than those who had not visited a museum or science centre within the last year (6% and 4% respectively).

In 2022, a third of young people (33%) who had been to a museum or science centre within the last year had taken part in an activity relating to something they were studying at school whilst there, this was a decrease on the proportion in 2019 (42%). Younger pupils (Year 8; 42%) were more likely to have taken part in a school related activity whilst visiting a museum than older pupils (Year 12; 30%).

Factors that would encourage visits to a museum or science centre

Nearly two-fifths of all young people (39%) stated that they would be encouraged to visit a museum, or visit more often, if there was an exhibition they were particularly interested in. Around three in every ten young people said they would be encouraged to visit a museum or science centre if museums were closer to where they live (30%), “If I had someone to go with” (29%), “If I had more time” (28%) and “More activities, especially for people my age” (28%). Over a fifth (22%) stated cheaper admission prices as a factor that would encourage them to visit.

Almost three in every ten young people (28%) said that nothing would encourage them to visit a museum, or visit more often, as they were not really interested.


Gender

There were some differences in the proportions of girls and boys when reporting which factors would encourage them to visit a museum or science centre.

Girls were more likely to state that “An exhibition I am particularly interested in”, “If museums were closer to where I live”, “If I had someone to go with”, “If I had more time”, “More activities, especially for people my age”, “Cheaper admission prices”, “More information about what is on” and “Better public transport service to and from museums” as reasons that would encourage them to visit, compared to boys.

Free school meal entitlement

Young people who were not entitled to free school meals were more likely to cite “An exhibition I am particularly interested in” (40%) and “If I had more time” (29%) as reasons that would encourage them to visit, compared with pupils entitled to free school meals (35% and 25% respectively).

In comparison, young people who are entitled to free school meals stated “Better public transport service to and from museum” (12%) and “Better opening times” (12%) as reasons that would encourage them to visit, compared with pupils not entitled to free school meals (both 9%).

Libraries

Use of the public library service

Over two-fifths (43%) of all young people had used the public library service at least once in the last year, this is a decrease on the proportion who had used the public library service in 2019 (48%). Girls were more likely to have used the public library service than boys (52% and 34% respectively).

Usage of the public library service decreased with year group, with pupils in Year 12 (29%) less likely to have used the service within the previous year compared with pupils in Year 8 (61%).

There were no differences in usage of the public library service by young people regarding disability or free school meal entitlement.

Frequency of use of the public library service

Over one in every ten (11%) young people used the public library service at least monthly. Concerning gender, girls were more likely than boys to have used the public library service at least monthly (13% and 9% respectively).

Used the public library legend - Gender


The proportion of young people who used the public library service at least monthly reduced as the School Year Group of pupils increased, with 19% of those in Year 8 using the public library at least monthly compared to 5% of those in Year 12.


Similar to the annual usage of the public library service, there were no significant differences in frequency of usage when considering disability, religious background or free school meal entitlement

Reasons for using the public library service

When asked why they used the public library service, the response most frequently cited by young people was ‘To borrow books’ (74%). Around a quarter of young people had used the public library service ‘To do homework’ (25%) or ‘To study for exams’ (23%) while over a tenth had used it ’To use photocopier/printer/scanner’ (13%), ‘To download free eBooks/audiobooks’ (12%) and ‘To use the library computers’ (11%).


Enjoyment of last visit to a public library

Three in every ten (30%) young people who had used the public library service had enjoyed their last visit a lot, with almost three-fifths (59%) enjoying it a little. Just over one in every ten (11%) young people who had used the public library service had not enjoyed their last visit. Girls were more likely to enjoy their last visit to the library a lot than boys (36% and 21% respectively).

Enjoy public library legend

Benefits of using the public library service

More than half of young people surveyed (55%) felt that using the public library service had helped them to read more.

Just over a third of young people said using the public library service helped them to relax (35%), while 26% cited that their usage of the public library service had given them a space to study and just over a fifth cited that it had ‘given me a place to do my homework’ (21%).

In contrast, just below a fifth of young people (18%) felt that using the public library service had not helped them with anything.


Reading for pleasure

Just over a third (34%) of young people said that they had read for pleasure in the last year, an increase on the proportion who read for pleasure in the year prior to the survey in 2019 (28%). Girls were more likely than boys to have read for pleasure (46% and 23% respectively), with a gap widening when compared with 2019.


There was no difference across school year groups or religious background for reading for pleasure. Analysis showed that young people that have a disability were more likely to read for pleasure than those that do not have a disability (38% and 33% respectively).

Reading for pleasure was more prevalent among young people not entitled to free school meals (37%) than young people who were entitled to free school meals (24%).

Library Satisfaction

Over two-fifths of young people (42%) were satisfied with public library provision in Northern Ireland. Whereas, almost one in every ten (9%) young people stated that they were dissatisfied with public library provision in Northern Ireland.

Library satisfaction legend

Girls were more likely to have said that they were satisfied with public library service compared with boys (51% and 34% respectively). On the other hand, boys were more likely to have said that they were dissatisfied with public library provision than girls (11% and 6% respectively).


Young people who do not have a disability were more likely to be satisfied with the public library provision compared to those with a disability (39% and 43% respectively). Similarly, young people not entitled to free school meals were more likely to be satisfied compared to those entitled to free school meals (43% and 37% respectively).

Heritage

Seven in every ten young people (70%) had visited a historic building, garden, monument or city/town with historic character over the 12 months prior to the 2022 survey. This is similar to the proportion who visited in 2019 (71%). Similar proportions of girls and boys had visited a place of historic interest in the last year (71% and 69% respectively).

Looking in more detail at visits to historic buildings, gardens or monuments, there was no change among the demographic groups analysed between 2019 and 2022.


Young people from a Protestant background (72%) were more likely to have visited a place of historic interest over the last year compared to those from a Catholic background (68%). Young people who are entitled to free school meals were less likely to have visited a historic building, garden, monument or city/town with historic character over the last year than those who are not entitled (59% and 73% respectively).

Knowledge of Irish

In 2022, a third of young people (33%) had some knowledge of Irish (i.e. can understand, speak, read or write Irish or any combination of these skills). This is an increase to the proportion of young people in 2019 (30%). In 2022, similar proportions of girls and boys had some knowledge of Irish (34% and 31% respectively).

In comparison to 2019, there was an increase in knowledge of Irish among the following demographic groups: girls, pupils in Year 9 and Year 10, and those not entitled to free school meals.


Analysis by school year group shows that knowledge of Irish generally decreases as year group increases, with 37% of pupils in Year 8 and 42% of pupils in Year 9 having knowledge of Irish compared to 21% of pupils in Year 12.


A higher proportion of young people from a Catholic background had some knowledge of Irish compared to those from a Protestant background (51% and 13% respectively). There was no difference between the proportion of young people who have and do not have a disability in relation to knowledge of Irish (32% and 33% respectively). There was also no difference in knowledge of Irish when looking at entitlement of free school meals (both 33%)

Ability to read, write, speak and understand Irish

Over a fifth (21%) of young people stated they were able to speak Irish while around one in seven said they had the ability to ‘Understand Irish’(16%), ‘Read Irish’ (17%`) and ‘Write Irish’ (15%).


Of those young people who had the ability to speak Irish, just over one in every ten (13%) spoke it daily, whilst 40% spoke it ‘weekly’ and 33% spoke it ‘less often’. Just under one in every seven (14%) young people who said they could speak Irish said they never spoke it.

Irish spoken legend - Gender

When asked if they would be interested in learning Irish language in school, almost two-fifths (39%) of young people said they would be interested. Girls had more interest than boys to learn Irish language in school (43% and 35% respectively).

Pupils in Year 8 (49%) were more interested to learn Irish in school than pupils in Year 12 (30%). In addition young people from a Catholic background were more interested to learn Irish in school compared to those from a Protestant background (52% and 23% respectively).

Knowledge of Ulster-Scots

In 2022, one in every ten (10%) young people had some knowledge of Ulster-Scots (i.e. can understand, speak, read or write Ulster-Scots or any combination of these skills). This is similar to the proportion of young people in 2019 (11%). In 2022, boys were more likely to have some knowledge of Ulster-Scots compared to girls (11% and 8% respectively).

In comparison to 2019, there was a decrease in some knowledge of Ulster-Scots among the following demographic groups: girls, pupils in Year 10, and young people that have a disability.


Knowledge of Ulster-Scots remained consistent across all school year groups. Young people from a Protestant background (16%) were more likely to have some knowledge of Ulster-Scots in comparison to people from a Catholic background (6%).

There was no difference in some knowledge of Ulster-Scots among young people when considering disability or free school meals entitlement.

Ability to read, write, speak and understand Ulster-Scots

Over one in every fifteen (7%) young people stated they were able to understand Ulster-Scots while around three per cent said they had the ability to ‘Speak Ulster-Scots’(3%), ‘Read Ulster-Scots’ (3%`) and ‘Write Ulster-Scots’ (2%).

When asked if they would be interested in learning Ulster-Scots in school, just under a fifth (18%) of young people said they would be interested. Girls had more interest than boys in learning Ulster-Scots in school (20% and 16% respectively).

Pupils in Year 8 (22%) were more interested in learning Ulster-Scots in school than pupils in Year 12 (15%). When analysing by religion, young people from a Protestant background were more interested in learning Ulster-Scots in school compared to those from a Catholic background (21% and 16% respectively). Young people who have a disability were also more interested in learning Ulster-Scots than those who do not have a disability (21% and 17% respectively).

Definitions & technical notes

Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey

The Central Survey Unit of the Northern Ireland Statistics and research Agency was commissioned by a consortium of government departments and public bodies to design, conduct and report on a study of the behaviour and attitudes of young people in Northern Ireland. The Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey (YPBAS) is a school-based survey carried out among 11-16 year olds and covers a wide range of topics relevant to the lives of young people today. The main aim of the YPBAS is to gain an insight into, and understanding of, their behaviour and lifestyle. It also aims to influence various government policies and practices relating to young people and to facilitate access to research findings and expertise.

Questionnaire

Two versions of the questionnaire were used to accommodate demand for topics on the 2022 survey. The content and structure of each questionnaire was agreed in consultation with clients. Schools were randomly assigned one version of the questionnaire. A copy of the DfC questions can be accessed at:

DfC Questions on the Young Persons’ Behaviour and Attitudes Survey 2022

Sample and response rate

The Department of Education (DE) provided CSU with a list of all post-primary schools in Northern Ireland (excluding independent schools and those which catered solely for pupils with special needs). All 192 post-primary schools, were contacted and invited to participate. Seventy four schools agreed to participate in the study, resulting in a response rate of 39%. One class in each of the five year groups (years 8-12) was then randomly selected to take part in the study. A total of 3,726 pupils were surveyed using Version A (response rate 84%) and 3,772 pupils using Version B of the questionnaire (response rate 85%). DfC’s questions on engagement of culture, arts and leisure were included in Version A.

Statistical significance in this report

The result presented in this report are based on data which has been weighted by year group, gender and religion in order to reflect the composition of the Northern Ireland post-primary population. Since a three stage sample design was used: schools, classes and pupils, the required assumption of random sampling was not met for significance testing. In 2013, standard errors were calculated for some of the variables in the survey using a formula for complex samples. However, when these were compared with standard errors calculated using the formula for random samples there was little difference (see Technical Report). Given those findings, and the methodology is consistent with that used in 2013, tests of statistical significance in this bulletin have been carried out using the formula for random samples.

Any statements in this report regarding differences between groups such as different years and whether young people are entitled to free school meals, are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. This means that we can be 95% confident that the differences between groups are actual differences and have not just arisen by chance. Both the base numbers and the sizes of the percentages have an effect on statistical significance. Therefore on occasion, a difference between two groups may be statistically significant while the same difference in percentage points between two other groups may not be statistically significant. The reason for this is because the larger the base numbers or the closer the percentages are to 0 or 100, the smaller the standard errors. This leads to increased precision of the estimates which increases the likelihood that the difference between the proportions is actually significant and did not just arise by chance.

Other notes

The following should be noted when interpreting figures and tables:

  • Percentages less than 0.5% are denoted by ‘0’ and where there are no responses, they are denoted by ‘-’.
  • Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding.
  • Percentages may not add to 100% for questions where multiple responses are allowed.
  • Detailed tabulations are not provided where the number of respondents is too small to allow meaningful analysis.
  • The base number of responses to each question, which is shown in each table, is the unweighted count. The base may vary due to some respondents not answering certain questions.