What we’ve found out so far

The focus group interviews

By November, 170 children and young people had taken part in our focus group interviews.

Who?

We’ve spoken to lots of different children and young people. These include children in care, children with disabilities, traveller children, children living in poverty, Black and minority ethnic children and young people, 16 to 18 year olds, young parents, under-11s, children affected by violence, young refugees and asylum seekers, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people.

Where?

Interviews have taken place in the north, south, east and west of England.

What we’ve learned so far…

Although we haven’t finished our investigation yet, we’ve started to discover some interesting things.

In school

• Children and young people say bullying is still a big issue, especially in primary schools. From the children we’ve talked to so far, it seems that children in care and children from traveller communities experience a lot of bullying.

• Young people think that lessons should be fun and practical. They want education to be relevant to their lives, and think lessons should include learning about living with different cultures, and how to manage your money.

• Traveller and refugee children, and young people from ethnic minorities, wanted new courses in schools and their communities to teach people about their way of life.

• Some young people felt that too many teachers shout and don’t listen to them.

• Children and young people with disabilities want to be helped at the earliest possible time so that they can get all the support they need to do well in school.

• Young people thought that schools should have special teachers to help children with special needs.

• Some children and young people did not think their schools had enough things to do in the playground. Others said their schools didn’t have enough computers.

In the family

• Young people thought that having a supportive family was very important.

• Children in care were very aware of the limited time they had to visit members of their family.

• Children in care said they were not always asked what they thought when decisions were made about where they lived.

• Children living in residential homes didn’t like the rules around visiting their friends for sleepovers – they said they were too restrictive.

• Many young people said that they wanted more independence, and that their parents could be too overprotective.

• Children and young people whose parents didn’t speak English wanted more help for their parents to learn English, to understand how schools work, and to know how to claim child benefit. Many of these children acted as the spokesperson for their parents (this is called an advocate).

Being healthy and staying safe

• Many young people thought free or reduced gym membership would help them do more regular exercise.

• Children and young people generally felt respected by doctors, but some (especially traveller children) relied on visiting a particular doctor who they felt understood their customs and way of life.

• Most young people didn’t feel confident about getting sexual health advice. Traveller children seemed the least likely group to ask for this information.

• Schools and local communities need better counselling services for young people.

In your free time

• Most children and young people felt they could not play safely in their communities.

• Many wanted more youth clubs, parks and open spaces, as well as community activities (such as trips to cinemas, skateboard parks, adventure playgrounds).

• They wanted children to design new play areas so that they would work for children and young people.

Thinking about crime

• Young people who regularly hung out on the streets with friends said that the police had a negative view of them.

• Young refugees and asylum seekers talked about the bad conditions they had experienced when they had been kept in police custody on coming to the UK.

• Many children and young people were scared of gangs in their local communities. This was especially the case for children and young people living in poor areas.

Respect and freedom

• Discrimination is still a big problem. Children and young people said they had been treated differently because of their age, their gender (being a boy or girl), their culture, or because of a disability.

• Bullying was a major problem for children in care, traveller children, and under-11s.

• Children and young people living in poor areas said that they didn’t have enough money to take up certain opportunities, like going to university.

• Children and young people were very aware that the media paints a very negative picture of them. They had mixed views about whether adults listen to them or treat them with respect.

• Some young people wanted the right to vote at 16.

• Young people and traveller children said that they often found it hard to enjoy their right to hang out with their friends in public places (this is called freedom of association).

• Disabled children needed more information about the services available to them.

• Young people said that information about benefits needed to be given to them in a way they could understand.

• The children and young people we spoke to were also very aware of the wider world, and said that children in developing countries needed more money to give them a better standard of living.

Posted on Monday, November 19, 2007