This article is #3 in our Youth Engagement series. This series focuses on the role of young people in engagement processes and their place in the present and future of deliberative democracy. Look out for more content on this topic over the next few months.
Engaging school children in deliberative processes does not happen every day, but it is often an important part of the wider engagement phase for Councils (especially) when embarking on a deliberative engagement process. We have had children as young as 10 that have joined sessions after school hours to tell us what they love most about their communities and what they want the future to look like.
Contrary to popular belief, managing children in sessions of this nature is often far from challenging. These young people offer unfiltered, authentic and creative responses when asked to imagine the future of their community, displaying pride in the places they come from and a desire to make them better spaces to live. We have enjoyed listening to their ideas and the energy that comes from their enthusiasm.
The challenge of recruiting young people
The great challenge to be overcome in these processes is the recruitment of young people to participate. Sessions are usually hosted just after school, however it has been difficult to secure more than 10 students in any given session. It is generally even less when dealing with high school students.
In reflecting on the difficulty of recruiting school kids to participate in these processes, it is clear the educational potential of this opportunity – for students to be involved in a democratic process – is being overlooked.
The process for recruiting young people
The current process involves Councils liaising with local schools directly - informing them of the time and place. The schools then put a call out to interested students.
In our experience, there are often many Council staff whose children participate in the workshops, and not many more. Unfortunately, but understandably, for many parents the workshop becomes just another after-school activity to fit into their busy lives.
While the children who turn up amaze us, there is so much more potential to be harnessed if we begin to take the involvement of these young people seriously, and treat their involvement as an act of authentic civic engagement.
How we can overcome the recruitment challenge
A possible solution to this challenge, and an avenue to increase levels of participation, lies in:
changing the way these opportunities are framed, and
shifting the responsibility onto schools.
Deliberative engagement processes have the potential to offer as much to these students as they do to the process, and schools should take that offer seriously.
A look at the Victorian curriculum for Civics & Citizenship gives some insight into the relevance of these processes. Some extracts from the curriculum are as follows:
“By investigating contemporary issues and events students learn to value their belonging in a diverse and dynamic society, develop points of view and positively contribute locally, nationally, regionally and globally.”
“Students will develop general skills and capabilities such as an appreciation of diverse perspectives, empathy, collaboration, negotiation, self-awareness and intercultural understanding.”
Looking over these points from the curriculum outline (some of which I have bolded where they are particularly relevant), there is an obvious place for the deliberative engagement activities of Councils within their local school communities.
So many of these curriculum aims are met by the Panel processes facilitated as part of the new Local Government Act. While it’s not possible for all school kids to participate in large panel processes, their involvement in some parts of it will give context to the deliberative decision making happening in their communities and allow them to experience it in some small way.
the Opportunity for young people
This is an amazing opportunity for schools to take advantage of embedding engagement into their school time, and it would be ideal if they would take more responsibility for encouraging their students to participate when the opportunity presents.
Thanks to the new Local Government Act, Victoria is now full of communities deliberating about their futures – which will directly impact on these school children in the decades ahead. What a missed opportunity it would be if schools failed to embed that in the lives of their students as well.
While more young voices are undoubtedly an advantage for these processes and their future planning, encouraging young people to be aware of and get involved in this engagement sets up a future generation of active citizens well trained in the ‘art’ of critical thinking and deliberation.
This could be the most significant outcome of them all, and right now might well be the time to explore the educational potential of these processes for the young people in our communities.
Noa Levin
This series of articles explores the importance of involving young people meaningfully in community engagement.
Please follow us while we ruminate on this topic – unpacking case studies, exploring options and understanding this form of engagement better - over 2021.
Noa is the youngest member of the MosaicLab team at 24. She has spent many years involved in youth organisations, working with her peers to cultivate strong youth leadership and advocacy with a focus on informal education.
More about Noa
Learn more about Noa and read her bio here.ENJOYED THIS POST?
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