Search Results (78)

This article examines how student voice informed the development of Tō Tātou Whakapono Our Faith, the national Religious Education (RE) curriculum for Catholic schools in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Through student-submitted RE questions and 63 informal Zoom-based “Interschool Catholic Yarns” with over 400 senior students over several years, the National Centre for Religious Studies gathered valuable insights into student experience and expectations. These contributions influenced RE curriculum content, nuance, and priorities. Emphasising accessible engagement with young people, the two outlined approaches align with Catholic commitments to synodality and formation. This article demonstrates that engaging student voice is both possible and necessary in designing RE that is meaningful, faithful, and grounded. Full article

Young people are frustrated and disheartened with the lack of adult leadership and action to address the climate crisis. Although youth representation in global, regional, and local decision-making contexts on climate change is steadily growing, the desired role and effect of youth in environmental and climate decision-making has shifted from a focus on having youth voices heard, to having a direct and meaningful impact on policy and action. To meaningfully integrate youth perspectives into climate policies and programs, intergenerational approaches and youth–adult partnerships are key. This paper explores strategies to support youth action and engagement as adult partners by investigating youth perspectives on what adults and adult-led organizations should consider when engaging young people in climate-related work. This qualitative research study introduces a revised version of the 7P youth participation framework, developed through focus groups with high school youth. This paper provides reflective questions and practical recommendations for participants engaged in youth–adult partnerships to help guide engagement beyond token representation and create meaningfully participatory conditions for youth agency in climate organizing spaces. Full article

Youth make up a fifth of the world’s population and will suffer the consequences of the climate catastrophe to differing extents depending on their social and geographical locations. The climate crisis is thus a matter of both intergenerational and racial/imperial injustice. Intersectional and interdisciplinary climate justice approaches are growing in the field of youth climate activism and, more often, these are necessarily engaging with collaborative methods to platform the voices of marginalised youth and those who live the colonial difference. Our paper provides early reflections from a youth climate activism artistic research project titled ‘Theatre of Climate Action: Amplifying Youth Voices for Climate Justice in Guadeloupe and South Africa’ (ToCA). In this project, sixteen young people aged 18-30 from South Africa and Guadeloupe collaborate to design, produce, and create theatre performances that reflect their exploration of climate justice through their lived experiences using artistic research methods. Specifically, we examine the opportunities and challenges in using the framework of Safe(r), Brave(r), and Riskier Spaces to support collaborative and emancipatory art-making practices that allow youth to become co-creators in this project. Insights revealed that an intentional embrace of safety, bravery, and risk as an ethico-political basis for art making was critical to cultivate a sense of community, trust, and belonging for youth co-creators. Full article

Children placed within the Children and Young People’s Secure Estate (CYPSE) are recognised as a ‘doubly vulnerable’ group of children experiencing a range of developmental differences and adverse experiences. Risk factors contributing to their journey into the CYPSE have been explored within the literature; however, empirical research incorporating their views is lacking. This systematic literature review sought to explore the literature pertaining to the views of children within the CYPSE. A thematic synthesis of the data identified three abstract themes: factors relating to the individual, their relationships, and influences of the setting in which they were placed. Findings illustrate the importance of hearing the voices of children placed within the CYPSE to support understanding and action of the involved professionals in order to positively impact on longer term outcomes. Full article

This article explores the process of developing policy briefs (PB) as strategic tools to translate knowledge stemming from the analysis of local educational practices into inclusive European policy recommendations. This paper highlights how educational practices from eleven partner institutions across Denmark, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and Spain informed recommendations to prevent early leaving from education and training (ELET) and to enhance youth’s school engagement. Educational practices involved a collaborative dialogue among multi-stakeholders to establish a shared vision about educational inclusion, and the co-creation of educational practices supported by monitoring, evidence collection, and the identification of promising examples. These elements reflect the aim to embed educational inclusion in policy development, while underscoring the role of PBs as mechanisms of participatory knowledge transfer between countries and sectors, bringing together diverse voices from policymakers, educators, researchers, and young people. In doing so, the methodological approach to produce PB recognised local produced knowledge as a catalyst for informed decisions promoting quality education. The analysis of PB highlights elements of the identified educational practices addressing ELET challenges, such as (i) implementing co-creation methodologies in both educational contexts and political formulation; (ii) addressing student citizenship as central to meaningful learning; (iii) valuing cross-sector partnerships to address systemic challenges, and (iv) reinforce relational pedagogies that enhance student–teacher and student–student relationships. Full article

The Food Boost Challenge (FBC) uses a community-up participatory action research approach to promote healthier eating habits among young people, aged 10–24 years old, by giving them a voice in food system change. This approach encourages turning ideas into action through collaboration with young people, both adolescents and students, teachers, researchers, and food system partners. This study explored the impact of the FBC beyond its direct effect on healthy eating behavior, focusing on innovative idea generation and how participation affected young people and partners, at both the individual and community level, using indicators of community-based participatory action research. Ideas generated in various phases of the FBC were listed. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with young people, digital feedback surveys after group meetings, and informal discussions with partner representatives to explore the impact of participation in the FBC. The results demonstrate positive effects, including changes in participant’s attitudes toward healthy eating, skill development among young people, and enhanced collaboration among stakeholders. Along the lines of the Community-Based Participatory Research conceptual model, the Food Boost Challenge fostered trust development, mutual learning, and capacity building at both individual and community levels. In conclusion, utilizing a community-up participatory action research approach, the Food Boost Challenge shows significant promise in empowering young people and fostering community-level changes. To translate its generated innovative solutions into real impact, a structured implementation phase is essential. Full article

Background/Objectives: This study examined factors influencing health behaviours among 13–17-year-olds in Surrey, focusing on rising obesity rates and socioeconomic disparities using a whole systems approach to capture both the stakeholders’ voice and the young people’s voices. Methods: The research involved two components: a survey of youth service providers (e.g., teachers, youth workers; n = 35) and focus groups with adolescents (n = 27). Results: The survey revealed challenges faced by stakeholders, including insufficient training, environmental factors (e.g., schools, social media, food systems), and limited support from parents and healthcare professionals. The focus groups identified two key themes: (1) domains of care, for example diet and how availability and cost of food affects food choices, and (2) barriers and solutions, addressing financial, structural, and emotional obstacles to and facilitators of a healthy lifestyle. Transcending these themes was the key role of health inequalities linked to income, geography, and gender. Conclusions: This study underscores the complexity of adolescent health behaviours and calls for a multi-level, coordinated approach to address inequalities and foster supportive environments for healthier choices. Full article

This article centers the experiences and voices of eight Kenyan youth climate change activists by highlighting how they navigate local and global challenges while engaging in climate change action. Specifically, this article examines how the activists are combating food insecurity and promoting biodiversity restoration by discussing findings from two projects. The first project is the Ondiri Wetland Botanical Garden, where youth activists have planted over 10,000 indigenous trees, of which about 58 are different species of trees native to the Kenyan highland community of Kikuyu, to counter biodiversity loss and alleviate the impact of climate change on flora and fauna. The second project is the One Million Trees for Kilifi project, where activists are planting orchards in various schools in Kilifi County in Kenya to mitigate the impact of climate change and end malnutrition among K-12 learners. Guided by the Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) methodology, this study counters the deficit and exclusionary narrative that has often left out young people from climate change education and governance policy decision-making and advocates a more equitable and inclusive approach that centers their voices and perspectives in solving existential problems like climate change. Full article

Increasingly, growing older is something we do alongside technologies. Often, through mobile media, our everyday practices of informal caring are being digitally mediated and mediatised. From apps such as Whatsapp to iOS Health, how digital technology is used to provide informal care in later life is poorly understood. Care operates intergenerationally and bilaterally—older adults often caring for young children as well as adult children caring for older adults with declining capacity. Mobile media technology has become an integral part of these informal care practices. Understanding what older people do with technology is important to map different media literacies, possibilities, and limitations in practice. In this paper, which draws on a larger study, we explore older adults’ informal digital practices through creative practice workshops in Victoria, Australia. In what we called ‘playshops’, we deployed playful and creative methods such as postcard prompts and mapping exercises to explore informal care practices used by older adults, many of which are so mundane that they remain invisible and are potentially missed in research. We performed this to map uses, barriers, and possibilities of mobile technologies in providing and receiving care. Based on these playshops, we argue that when digital media is used in everyday ways, it can lead to greater social connection and informal care for, with, and through older people. These everyday acts of care give voice and visibility to the diverse ways older people use technology to facilitate informal care practises. Full article

The decision-making process involves different stages in which the authorities should ensure that citizens’ views and concerns are voiced by encouraging citizens to become directly involved in policy areas and issues so that they can actively engage in collective public choices. Public consultation therefore plays a crucial role in promoting democratic values and strengthening the legitimacy of decision-making processes in governments and organizations. This study aims to analyze young people’s reaction to the general trend towards digitalization and the extent to which young people are willing to adopt new digital methods of public consultation. The results show that the digitalization trend is sparking enthusiasm for innovation and efficiency among our respondents, but they also highlight concerns about data security and the impact on jobs. Our study finds a generally positive attitude towards the use of online platforms for public consultations, highlighting the role of online platforms in increasing the trust of European citizens in the European legislature, but at the same time questioning the importance the European Union would attach to opinions expressed through digital platforms and the representativeness of the group of participants. The results of this study have strong administrative and managerial implications and can provide important insights into the search for solutions regarding the implementation of digitalization and online consultation in EU legislation. Full article

Background/Objectives: Hope is a universal, multidimensional, and nuanced concept that may have specific meaning for young people living with chronic health conditions anticipated to last into adulthood. We previously identified definitions of hope for youth living with chronic health conditions derived from young people’s and their caregivers’ own words. Here, we aimed to develop a hope assessment tool to facilitate the future evaluation of interventions to support wellness and health for young people growing up with chronic health conditions; Methods: We developed Likert-type scale questions using the young people’s and caregivers’ definitions of hope and applied the think-aloud cognitive interview method to assess understanding and to inform sequential iteration. Interviews were recorded and insights from participant interviews were analyzed thematically. Results: In total, 11 youth (age 12–16 years) with various chronic health conditions completed surveys and interviews over three iteration cycles. Responses to the six-point Likert-scale questions ranged from 1 (none of the time) to 6 (all of the time) (median 5). All of the young people (n = 11) reported that they do things they enjoy, either all of the time or most of the time. In contrast, only 36% felt energetic, either all or most of the time. Three themes were identified: my body and hope; my identity, self-image, and hope; and my world and hope. Conclusions: In addition to gaining important feedback that allowed us to improve item word choice to maximize assessment tool understanding, we gained valuable insights into the multidimensional construct of hope. Thematic analysis revealed the importance of physical symptoms and identity to the meaning of hope in the context of a young person’s life. Our new hope assessment tool derived from the young people’s own definition of hope has face and content validity for use in clinical and research settings to evaluate hope among pediatric patients living with chronic health conditions. Full article

Background: Children and young people’s (CYP) mental health is a policy priority, with rates of poor mental health reported to be as much as one in five across the UK. Traditional mental health support services cannot meet demand, and new approaches are needed. The creative arts can be an effective tool in supporting mental health. However, little is known about how live music can be used to support CYP mental health and wellbeing. We facilitated three, two-day intergenerational and multi-disciplinary workshops to co-produce ideas about how live music could be delivered to this end. Results: Workshops were held in three locations in Scotland, attended by a mixture of CYP, youth workers, mental health practitioners, teachers, and musicians (n = 91). A range of co-created solutions were generated including a live music festival designed for and with CYP and free gig tickets. Barriers and facilitators for CYP accessing live music were also identified. Furthermore, these workshops were found to increase confidence for musicians in delivering live music events to CYP, and CYP felt their voices were heard in their design of the delivery. Conclusions: This study presents novel co-created solutions about how live music can be delivered to CYP that need to be tried and tested in future research. It also provides key insights for musicians, live music providers, and people supporting CYP about the best approach to delivering live music for CYP. Full article

This paper introduces the USPDATRO dataset. This is a speech dataset, in the Romanian language, constructed from open data, focusing on under-represented voice types (children, young and old people, and female voices). The paper covers the methodology behind the dataset construction, specific details regarding the dataset, and evaluation of existing Romanian Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems, with different architectures. Results indicate that more under-represented speech content is needed in the training of ASR systems. Our approach can be extended to other low-resourced languages, as long as open data are available. Full article

This paper examines the rhetoric and argumentation of two prominent environmental activists, Greta Thunberg and Chris Packham. From the perspective of Ecolinguistics, Thunberg has given voice to a generational movement for change, galvanising young people everywhere through high-profile protests and speeches. Packham represents British mainstream environmentalism, notably as the presenter of the acclaimed nature documentary ‘Springwatch’. We argue that their influence partially stems from their alignment with dominant cultural narratives: Thunberg’s emphasis on intergenerational discord and Packham’s connection to the natural world. We analyse both figures via the lens of the ‘emotionalisation of media discourse’, highlighting argumentation strategies that feature expressions of negative emotions of which anger is a type. Thunberg’s famous ‘How dare you?’ outburst at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit and Packham’s statement to Novara Media, ‘I am more angry now than at any point since my 20s’, exemplify this trend. We explore the pragmatic implications of their argumentative and discursive strategies, suggesting that while both have significantly elevated the profile of ecological activism, their discourse may also have a potentially divisive aspect. Full article

The experiences of Black students in Canadian higher education shed light on the societal and institutional challenges that influence their social and economic aspirations. In today’s societal and economic context, obtaining a postsecondary education degree is not just preferred but essential for securing the employment opportunities that most young people desire. For Black communities in particular, a university degree is often seen as the primary pathway to upward social mobility. However, Black students’ journeys toward higher education are frequently hindered by systemic barriers and institutional challenges. While there is extensive literature detailing the systemic forces that obstruct access to higher education for Black Canadians, there is limited academic focus on how these forces continue to affect Black students once they enter higher education. This article addresses this gap by investigating the educational experiences of Black students in Canadian universities, emphasizing the challenges posed by systemic racism and institutional barriers. Utilizing data from interviews and focus groups with Black undergraduate and graduate students from a university in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the study explores how historical and contemporary issues of anti-Black racism shape their academic journeys. It discusses the broader implications of these experiences and highlights the need for comprehensive institutional reforms to create genuinely inclusive and equitable educational environments. By centering the voices of Black students, this research aims to contribute to the ongoing dialog on racial equity in higher education. Full article