Census to chart children’s view of their lives

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1297" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;02&sol;SND12-wk4-Census&lowbar;300x225&period;jpg" alt&equals;"SND12-wk4-Census 300x225" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"225" &sol;>The only national survey to comprehensively chart children&&num;8217&semi;s views of their own lives is taking place across New Zealand from March 16&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Kiwi kids will give their views on issues as wide-ranging as bullying&comma; their after-school screen-time&comma; and which team they think will win the Rugby World Cup in September&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>CensusAtSchool New Zealand&comma; known in te reo M&amacr;ori as Tataurangakitekura Aotearoa&comma; is a non-profit&comma; online educational project that aims to bring statistics to life in the classroom&period; Supervised by teachers&comma; students anonymously answer 35 questions about their lives in English or te reo M&amacr;ori&comma; and are later able to explore the results in class&period; CAS runs every two years&comma; and in 2013&comma; more than 23&comma;500 Year 5-13 schoolchildren took part&comma; representing more than 380 schools&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>CensusAtSchool&comma; now in its seventh edition&comma; is a biennial collaborative project involving teachers&comma; the University of Auckland&&num;8217&semi;s Department of Statistics&comma; Statistics New Zealand and the Ministry of Education&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It is part of an international effort to boost statistical capability among young people&comma; and is carried out in Australia&comma; the United Kingdom&comma; Canada&comma; the US&comma; Japan and South Africa&period; The countries share some questions so comparisons can be made&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In New Zealand&comma; CensusAtSchool&sol;Tataurangakitekura is co-directed by Prof Chris Wildof the Department of Statistics at the University of Auckland and Rachel Cunliffe&comma; a former lecturer in the department who owns web design company cre8d design and is a commentator on youth culture and online communications&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Key dates&colon;<&sol;strong><br &sol;>March 16&comma; 2015&colon; CensusatSchool survey goes live and schools start taking part&period;<br &sol;>May 19&comma; 2015&colon; Interesting initial statistics from the survey data released to media&period;<br &sol;>May 29&comma; 2015&colon; End of CensusAtSchool data-collection period&period;<br &sol;>Mid-June&comma; 2015&colon; CensusAtSchool nationwide database available for sampling&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Photo&colon; Stephen Barker&comma;<&sol;em><br &sol;><em><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;barkerphotography&period;co&period;nz" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">B<&sol;a>arker Photography&period; &nbsp&semi;©The University of Auckland&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;