Young People "Feel Excluded From Decisions"
The latest Ipsos Schools omnibus looks at the extent to which young people feel they are being listened to and understood for The Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC).
It is important that young people's views are taken into account when making decisions which affect them so that policies and services aimed at children are designed with their views in mind. However, half of young people feel that they do not get enough say in decisions that affect them; only 18% feel that they do.
Although we might expect older children to be given more of a say because of their age and maturity, children in Years 10 and 11 are actually more likely than those in Years seven to nine to feel that they are not given enough say in decisions which affect them (62% compared to 45%).
Respect has also become an important issue following the Government's respect action plan, which aims to reduce anti-social behaviour on the principle that, with greater consideration of others, community spirit will grow and anti-social behaviour will lessen. On this basis, it would seem to be important that young people feel valued by adults so that they in turn respect other people. However, only a fifth (22%) of children feel that they are given enough respect and understanding by adults.
This appears to be a greater issue with children over the age of 14. Whereas a quarter (27%) of children aged 13 or under feel that they do get respect and understanding, only 17% of children aged 15 and 16 agree.
Q1 Do you think you have enough say in decisions that affect you, for example in individual services and local and national decision making?Base: 2,129 young people aged 11-16 in England
| % | |
|---|---|
| Yes | 18 |
| No | 50 |
| Don't know | 27 |
| Not stated | 5 |
Q2 Please tick how much you agree or disagree with the statement below?"Children and young people are given enough respect and understanding by adults"Base: 2,129 young people aged 11-16 in England
| % | |
|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 6 |
| Tend to agree | 16 |
| Neither agree nor disagree | 22 |
| Tend to disagree | 23 |
| Strongly disagree | 21 |
| Don't know | 6 |
| Not stated | 5 |
Technical details
The 2006 Schools Omnibus survey sample comprised 280 maintained middle and secondary schools in England. The age groups included in the survey are 11-16 year olds in curriculum years 7 to 11. Each school was randomly allocated one of these curriculum years, from which Ipsos interviewers selected one class at random (using a random number grid) to be interviewed. In total, 91 schools participated and 2,129 fully completed questionnaires were obtained from pupils. Fieldwork for the study was conducted between 24 February and 18 May 2006.
Data are weighted by gender, age and region. The weights are derived from data supplied by the DfES and the Welsh Office.
