Thanks to Attila Kiss for sending these photos of his class taking part in CensusAtSchool!

Snapchat has emerged as the top app among high school students, with 61% of them reporting that they used it four or more times the day before participating in the CensusAtSchool questionnaire. TikTok closely followed with 60%. In contrast, primary school students preferred YouTube, with 59% stating they used it four or more times, followed by TikTok at 29%.

These insights come from CensusAtSchool TataurangaKiTeKura, a non-profit online educational project that brings statistics to life in English and Māori-medium classrooms. Supervised by teachers, students anonymously answer 34 questions in English or te reo Māori. The project is run by the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Stats NZ. This year, around 35,000 students from 647 schools have participated in the project so far.

Apps Used Four or More Times the Day Before

High school students (Years 9-13):

• 61% Snapchat
• 60% TikTok
• 49% Instagram
• 48% YouTube
• 18% Discord
• 17% WhatsApp
• 12% Facebook
• 11% Pinterest
• 7% BeReal
• 5% Twitter

Primary school students (Years 3-8):

• 59% YouTube
• 29% TikTok
• 22% Snapchat
• 13% Discord
• 10% Instagram
• 9% WhatsApp
• 7% Pinterest
• 4% Facebook
• 2% Twitter
• 2% BeReal

Screen Time After School

High school students said they spent a median of 3.5 hours on screens after school the day before participating in the questionnaire. A quarter of them spent 5 hours or more on screens, while only 1.6% said they spent no time on screens after school that day.

Primary school students said they spent a median of 2 hours on screens after school the day before taking part, and a quarter of them spent 4 hours or more on screens. Additionally, 7.8% of the participants reported not spending any time on screens after school that day.

Co-director of CensusAtSchool Annel Patel says, “Screen time is a big issue in our home and my 8 and 10-year-old daughters don’t even have phones yet! We use tech to monitor their screen time, enforcing a daily two-hour limit and only allowing access to YouTube Kids. I’m mindful that my own screen habits set an example for my daughters’ healthy expectations.”

Online Blocking

Online blocking is also prevalent among high school students, with 33% stating that they had blocked someone online in the past week. This behaviour was more common with the younger high school students and females.

The CensusAtSchool team is collaborating with Tūturu – a modern approach to student wellbeing – to create a resource that helps students analyse and explore the CensusAtSchool data.

Annabel Prescott, Learning & Development Director for Tūturu at the NZ Drug Foundation, commented on the high percentage of students saying they had blocked someone within the past week. “Young people use blocking as a strategy to manage relationships and set boundaries. This is perceived by young people as very normal behaviour, and quite different from how adults engage with social media”.

“We are excited to be working with CensusAtSchool and health and education experts to develop a teaching resource that will help students explore data, what it means to them, their peers, and their wellbeing; and consider what health-promoting actions can be taken to help students navigate a digital world”.

The eleventh biennial edition of CensusAtSchool was launched on February 13 and will continue until the end of 2024. See the questions, which schools are taking part, and a live dashboard on CensusAtSchool’s website: www.censusatschool.org.nz.

Thanks to Uane Davidson of Hay Park School for sharing these photos of students taking part in CensusAtSchool.

A big thank you to all teachers and students who have taken part in the 2023 survey. Cashmere High and Newlands Intermediate are the leading schools to date.

Over 33,300 students have taken part so far! Another 2,300 students taking part and this will become our biggest CensusAtSchool ever – and the data is super interesting.

Now available in te reo Māori:

• Teachers’ guides
• Data detective posters
• Audio while taking part in the questionnaire

Of note:

2023 Garden bird survey starts June 24 – Get involved! 

Get students outdoors for homework! Classroom resources here.

Teach Data Literacy: a guide for teachers – a new primary statistics resource from Data Education in Schools in Scotland.  Excellent lesson ideas and classroom resources.

Maths Week/Pāngarau Wiki – registrations are open. Submit a topic for Maths Week and be in to win prizes! Maths Week runs 7-11 August, 2023.

Thanks to Sean Minhinnick for sharing these photos of his class at Tahuna School taking part in CensusAtSchool.

Thanks to Tawnee Sowman of Marist School for sending these photos of her class taking part in CensusAtSchool!

Thanks to Karin Carnachan of Remuera Intermediate for sending in this photo of her class taking part in CensusAtSchool this term.

Thanks to Gemma Luhetoa for sending these photos of her Year 7 students at Selwyn House School taking part in CensusAtSchool!

Cedar Owen and Neave Lowe measure each other’s thumb circumference

Zara Percasky takes a leap while completing the standing jump

Victoria Lettink flies through the air during her standing jump while Ruby Maxwell watches on

Ruby Maxwell takes a flying leap while Victoria Lettink observes

Aria Hamilton-Petrie and Myana Singh measure their standing jump

Thanks to Nicole Higby for sending these photos of students at Marian Catholic School taking part in CensusAtSchool!

Thanks to Mark Lukkassen for sending these photos of students at Napier Girls’ High School taking part in CensusAtSchool!