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All-Party Support For Scottish Schools Census Project

24 educational activities for 200,000 pupils
across the 5 - 14 curriculum

A project to raise awareness among school children of the forthcoming Census, which will take place on Sunday 29 April, has been launched in Scottish schools. It will mean pupils using mathematical skills and will involve activities in environmental studies as well as information and communications technology. In total there are 24 educational activities in the package.

The Census is non-political and when the Schools Census Project was launched at St Columba's High School, Dunfermline on Monday 19 March, representatives of the main political parties were invited to participate with the Registrar General for Scotland, John Randall, and Scottish Executive Education Minister Jack McConnell.

"The project will help school pupils use real and relevant data as a source for information handling as well as looking at social trends over time through previous Census data," said John Randall, who as Registrar General is responsible for the success of Scotland's Census.

"It will help young people understand why it is important to our society that the data is collected," added Mr Randall, "and share the importance of the Census with their parents. It is important that everyone in Scotland fills in the Census form on 29 April since the information will be vital to the future of Scotland."

Jack McConnell, Education Minister, commended the project, saying: "With its many activities, a series of explanatory articles and a comprehensive database of past Census figures carefully organised to give easy access to figures at both national and local level, the Census Learning Zone helps to bring home to our children how much Scotland has changed. Every school has internet access and by using this site the children can learn about their country in a new way, and at the same time polish up their IT and mathematical skills."

The Schools Census Project was developed jointly by the General Register Office for Scotland, Scottish Executive Education Department and Learning and Teaching Scotland. An internet-based scheme accompanied by a workbook, the project aims to give eight to 14-year-old pupils experience of using previous Census data.

Learning and Teaching Scotland commissioned education writer George Wilson to produce the workbook activities and the General Register Office for Scotland created 320 data sets, covering all 32 Scottish local authority areas, from which pupils can extract information relating to both national and local statistics. There are also a number of articles featuring material from previous national Censuses since 1801 and explaining how the 2001 Census will gather and process the information

Work exercises cover such topics as rural depopulation, the increase in lone-parent families in Scotland between 1971-91, and ethnic origins. The exercises also cover population and occupational changes as well as how Census information is used by local authorities when planning new developments.

The first Census, which took place in 1801, had only six questions which asked who lived in each property, their relationship and their work. The 2001 Census has 42 questions - 32 individual and 10 on housing. Sixteen of the individual questions relate to employment and work. Most of the questions only require a tick in a box and it should only take ten minutes per person to complete. Individual Census returns remain secret for 100 years but the information is turned into statistical data.

The first data from the 2001 Census will be available in the autumn of 2002. Among the key facts will be the size of Scotland's population which has risen from 1,608,420 in 1801 to its peak of 5,228,963 in 1971 - falling to just over five million since then.

Notes To Editors

The Schools Census Project website can be accessed on www.gro-scotland.gov.uk