Students will be able to see how their pocket money stacks up against their peers, and whether they're getting less after-school screen time, when they become data detectives in this year's CensusAtSchool programme.

The online statistics project is open to all English and Maori-medium schools.

Teachers can register their classes and take part in CensusAtSchool at any time before it finishes on July 7.

In class, students aged nine to 18 (Year 5 to Year 13) will use digital devices to answer 35 online questions in English or Maori about their lives and opinions.

The census explores New Zealand childhoods in the here and now, asking students about topics such as whether they get pocket money, and how much; whether there is a limit on their screen time after school; and if anything in their lunchbox that day had been grown at home.

Students can also carry out practical activities such as weighing the laptops and tablets they take to school.

Ministry of Education deputy secretary Karl Le Quesne says 835 teachers from more than 530 schools have already registered to take part in CensusAtSchool in their maths and statistics classes. From mid-June, the data will be released for teachers to use in the classroom.

'CensusAtSchool gives teachers relevant, real-life data to help students tell stories about themselves and their peers.

'Students become data detectives, mining the census to reveal the stories hidden in it. The CensusAtSchool questions are wide-ranging, and in analysing the answers, teachers have opportunities to start conversations that touch on many areas of the curriculum, from technology to sport to environmental studies.”

CensusAtSchool started in 2003. It is run every two years by the University of Auckland's Department of Statistics, with support from Statistics NZ and the Ministry of Education.

Statistics NZ's education manager Andrew Tideswell says in our data-driven world, statistical literacy is as important as knowing how to read and write.

'People with statistical skills are very attractive to employers, but statistical literacy isn't just about careers. If you're confident with data, you have a valuable toolkit to negotiate everyday life.”

CensusAtSchool is part of an international effort to boost statistical capability among young people, and is carried out in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Japan and South Africa. The countries share some questions so comparisons can be made.