The Youth Sports Trust has just published ‘The Class of 2035: How sport can empower a generation.’ The study warns of significant inequalities in young people’s engagement with sport and physical activity, particularly amongst those from poorer backgrounds.

It states that children risk becoming increasingly disengaged from physical activity over the next decade unless more is done to champion the value of PE and school sport, especially among the most disadvantaged.

Key findings from the Class of 2035 report:

  • Children from poorer backgrounds are the least confident being active. 51% of 11-to-16-year-olds in the D and E socio-economic groups rated themselves as confident taking part in physical activity, compared to 75% of 11-to-16-year-olds in the A and B socio-economic groups.
  • Young people’s awareness of the benefits they should get from PE and physical activity are in decline. Compared with six years ago, fewer children agree that PE and physical activity helps them to be healthy (down from 78% to 72%), be fit (down from 80% to 71%) or improve their social and team building skills (down from 43% to 34%). Children from lower socio-economic groups are less likely to agree that what they do in PE will help them to achieve their ambitions in life (52% for ABs vs 32% for DEs).
  • Children increasingly want to see sporting activity led by their peers. One in three (36%) young people said they would do more sport if it was led by someone their own age – up from 23% six year ago. This is especially important for young people with disabilities – 46% of whom agreed.
  • Teachers play an essential role in tackling inequalities. Young people from poorer backgrounds were the most likely to agree that their school teacher or sports coach inspires them to be active (42% for DEs vs 38% for ABs) and much less likely to say their dads inspired them to be active (35% for DEs vs 55% for ABs)
  • New technology should be used to engage young people in physical activity. Almost half (45%) of young people would like to see more use of new technology in PE lessons.

To read the report click here: class-of-2035-2015-edition

To find out more click here: https://www.youthsporttrust.org/news-insight/news/charity-releases-landmark-research-as-it-looks-to-the-class-of-2035