Comparing Time IATUR in Brussels

What do schoo lch i ld ren in F in land do w i th the i r t ime? From time to time, public concern has been voiced about the way school-children spend their time, claiming that youngsters stay up too late and then end up going to school tired. Free time is spent at the computer or watching television, leaving little time for physical exercise. There have also been worries about small schoolchildren having to spend afternoons alone once school is over because their parents are still at work and organised after-school club activities are inadequate. What, then, does the day of a schoolchild look like in the light of Time Use Survey data? The data are based on Statistics Finland’s Time Use Surveys from 1999-2000 (5,300 persons) and 1987-1988 (7,800 persons). The youngest respondents of the survey are 10-year-olds, so it produces infor-mation on time use starting from those in the fourth year of comprehensive school. In the survey the respondents recorded for two days at the accuracy of 10 minutes what they were doing and whether they were alone or together with members of their family or with friends. The survey also studied the timing and place of activities. The paper studies schoolchildren’s time use and daily rhythm on schooldays and days off school and examines changes that have taken place in these in the 1990s. Do schoolchildren in Finland sleep less than they used to? Has the computer overtaken other ways of spending free time? How much time do schoolchildren spend alone in the afternoons? Quarter of the day spent on studying The time used for attending school has decreased compared to the situation at the end of the 1980s. With comprehensive school pupils the reduction amounts to twenty or so minutes but with upper secondary school pupils it totals almost one hour per schoolday. Both the time spent at school and that used for doing homework have diminished. Upper secondary school pupils today spend thirty minutes less on homework than they did 12 years ago