Youth Voice
When we include young people in our communities and sports clubs it enables them to share their thoughts, ideas and experiences so we can create activities that are meaningful, engaging and loads more fun.
We know from Sport England’s active lives survey that enjoyment is essential for young people to take part in physical activity, no matter what level they are participating. If we are to bridge the inactivity gap, we need to work with young people and truly hear their voice.
Why is it important?
It is a young person’s right to be heard, to be able to express their views and for them to be acted on. When we value a young person’s voice, they feel connected and assured they belong. It helps them gain confidence and opens opportunities for them.
When an Activity Provider, Coach or Club takes young people’s voices into account they create places that welcoming, engaging and above all relevant for the young people that they serve.
When does it fail?
It fails when we are not genuine and authentic. Youth voice requires everyone to listen, to feel heard and that action and decisions are taken together. There needs to be a sense of trust and openness, where respect is given to a person’s ideas, thoughts and experiences.
If you cannot see another person’s point of view, then it can become confrontational and young people will disengage.
In failure there is still learning, sometimes things will not go the way you expect or plan. In this situation you need to step back, reflect and be open to starting again.
There will be moments when you can see failure looming, when the challenges of getting everyone to one point of common ground feels impossible. Times like these are the ‘sticky end’ of youth voice. There are some tried & tested tools and techniques that can help in these situations and you can follow these links to learn more.
Becoming a child-first coach
How do you start? If this isn’t something that comes naturally for you or it seems a stretch from where you are right now then starting small and with open conversations that enable you to lean into the process.
At first listen, listen to hear then to understand. This progresses to including young people in conversations and decisions before finally it goes full circle to when action is taken collectively.
Begin by:
- Asking for their views and ideas at the beginning of a session or at the end when you want to know what to do the following week.
- Bring the group in to help design and run activities, it could be for their own group or as ‘young leaders’ for a younger group at the club.
- Work alongside young people to make a change in your club, if there are things that need improving create a small working group and begin with something relatively easy to achieve.
What youth voice isn’t
The challenge is when you simply pop out a survey or ask for feedback without really understanding why you are doing it or acknowledge the responses you receive. It can then be compounded when you fail to act on that feedback.
We know that it is great to ‘consult’ with young people and to harvest their views, yet they are asked their views and opinions all the time but often without seeing any return. If consultation is not meaningful to them then it can often feel like another withdrawal of their time and energy without any deposit in their bank in return.
By starting small and just listening first, you have a chance of learning and building rapport, working in the slow lane and making changes and improvements with little effort to all parties can achieve significant results.
If you want to learn more about how to hear and harness the voices of your young people, please get in touch. We have a wealth of experience and partners, that work with young people all the time, who we can draw in to support you.
We also invite you to stand with our movement, join us on the slow road to learn how we can include more young people in clubs and sporting events throughout the county.
Useful resources
Play Their Way
We are proud supporters of the Play Their Way movement. We share a passion to improve children’s experience in sport and physical activity and have a growing network of coaches that want to support children to play their own way.
Find out more about Play Their Way and how you can become a Child-First coach through the Play Their Way Ambassador programme.
