Abstract: In Ireland, there have been a number of studies on cultural participation among the adult population but much less is known about how children and young people engage in the arts within and outside the formal school curriculum. The Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study provides the potential to look at how children and young people at different ages engage in different sorts of cultural activities and how these activities relate to other dimensions of their lives. The large sample size of GUI means that these analyses present the first systematic overview on the topic.
This study, funded by the Arts Council, addresses the following research questions:
1. What groups of children (in terms of gender, social class, mother’s education, income, migrant status, having a special educational need/disability and urban/rural location) are more likely to engage in (different forms of) cultural activities?
2. What schools and classrooms place greater emphasis on arts activities? Is this associated with children’s participation in cultural activities outside school?
3. How is participation in cultural activities related to other child outcomes, including reading and maths achievement and socio-emotional wellbeing?
