Transcript Document

The participation of children and
young people in the work of Milton
Keynes local authority and its partners
A one day course devised with young people, staff and Bill
A short report
We are Amber, Brandyn and Bill
10 February, 2010
The aims of the day are
Thinking about the importance of listening and responding to
children and young people
Exploring our own values and attitudes
Considering the legal and policy context
Learning from a range of approaches and case studies
Developing a personal action plan and organisational priorities
The plan
Welcomes and introductions
Participation - what’s it all about?
Participation – why bother?
Participation – how does it work best?
Evaluation and next steps
What’s in the resources pack
• Resources for the day: outline, worksheets, postcard, Charter
• Involving children and young people - an introduction
Available at:
http://hbr.nya.org.uk/HBR%20CD%20content%202010/HTML/i
ndex.html
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
We suggest these as ground rules to
sign up to
• Respect each other
• Phone - if on, then have it on vibrate
• Have an open mind
• Speak to others about what you learnt but not about
other people’s business
• Engage your brain before your mouth
• Enjoy yourself
Participation: what’s it all about?
• What’s it mean to us?
• Take a stand! What’s your view on 4 tough statements?
• The great debate: does participation matter?
• So what does it all mean for us? How can children and
young people’s participation help in our daily jobs?
What’s it meant to us?
Introduce yourselves and where you work
Tells us what it feels like for you personally when you are
listened to and taken seriously
Just some of the things mentioned included:
Being valued, respected, understood, taken seriously, taken into
account, frustrated and a sense of feeling worthless when not
heard, empowering, powerful, a desire to repay the kindness
when someone went well beyond the call of duty, feel included,
importance of recognising the difference between hearing and
listening
Take a stand!
There are 4 faces around the room. Take a stand to show
how much you agree or disagree with each statement. And
we’ll then ask for some comments
Children and young people know what’s best for them
Things are getting much better for children and young
people in Milton Keynes
The services are doing their very best for children and
young people in Milton Keynes
“Unless services listen to children and young people,
adults will never get it right!”
Take a stand
So, broadly, children and young people often know what’s
best for them, but it depends on age and what’s going on
in their lives.
Things are getting better for some, but for many things are
tough and getting tougher.
Some services are doing really well, but overall, many
could be doing more for children and young people.
And the services won’t get a lot better unless they involve
children and young people more and take what they have
to say seriously.
The great debate: does participation
matter?
Join one of 4 groups and prepare some points to
debate from the standpoint of what it says on your card.
In order to help children and young people get the best
possible start in life, their participation is:
• A waste of money
• Useful
• Vital
We’ll now hear the debate from each point of view and
take a vote at the end.
Some of the points in the debate included:
Waste of money:
Useful
Childish behaviour and immature
They lack of experience; Adults know best
It squanders money and nothing changes
They are not consistent and are incapable
They change their minds each day
We chose to have the child; so as parents
we have the right to speak for them
They tell lies!
We have to do it in law
We’re told to do it by Ofsted
Services may improve
Quality standards
We’ll save money
We can get good quotes
We can tick the boxes
Help us get money
Looks good for the figures
and feedback
Vital
Community cohesion
You are judged by how you treat the most vulnerable in society
Our positive response to children and young people changes how we see
and respond to others in society
It is crucial to their and our emotional wellbeing
They are our future
They are the source of innovation
So what does it all mean for us?
On the first flipchart, let’s write up all the stuff you do in your jobs. On the second
flipchart, we’ll write down loads of words that help us describe what participation
is about.
In small groups, talk among yourselves about how the stuff on the second chart
helps with the stuff on the first chart. How can and does children and young
people’s participation help what you do in your daily work? We’ll now take a
moment to feedback a bit from each group
Participation: why bother?
• Because we need to: the rights quiz
• Because we have to: a bit about policy
• Because we want to: what’s changed through participation
• So what’s stopping us? barriers and opportunities
Because we need to: the rights quiz
Form into two groups and agree on a team noise for your buzzer
Just a warning: a quiz is a quick and powerful way to touch on
many facts and figures about children and young people. But
each fact an figure is about a real person. And you will know
many of them.
You can find the quiz and the notes to go with it at
http://www.practicalparticipation.co.uk/2013/06/2012-agood-year-for-childrens-rights/
Because we have to: a bit about policy
A moral and legal right to take part
• International law: Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Domestic law: Children Act 1989, 2004, Education Act 2002…
• Citizens now
Better results
• Sure Start, Children’s Centres, child protection, safer communities
Better ways of working together
• Multi-agency teams
• Partnership working
• Inspections
A commitment and history in Milton Keynes
UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Participation
Protection
Article 12
Children and young people
fulfilling their potential
Provision
Because we want to
What’s changed in Milton Keynes through children and young
people’s participation
Here’s a pond. Each ripple represents change:
•
Individually
•
Group
•
Community
•
Around Milton Keynes
•
Further afield
Form small groups and share stories of change because of
children and young people’s participation and then write on
the post-its to show where the splash happened and how far
the ripples went.
Some key messages
Because we want to is a
better motivation than
because we need to or
because we have to.
Impact on individuals
often has wider ripples
into the group,
community or area.
Evidence of dialogue
and change should
include the voice of
those who are meant to
have benefited.
Ripples in the pond: some examples of change
School council: children and young people have a voice in planning activities.
Youth participation helped one young woman build her own social skills, gained better
understand of her mental health needs and helped the participation team
Team Around the Child meeting was called by a young person directly, which impacted on
them personally and on wider policy and procedures.
Local amenities like the MUGA have been developed with young people’s participation.
NGAGE project is child led, with them identifying identify targets and outcomes.
Bus prices were to rise from 55 to 60p. After a meeting with young people, it was agreed to
stagger the increase. “Still not good enough but we were listened to.”
Youth cabinet: this is raising profile of politics
Children’s charter in Milton Keynes is a shared commitment to participation
School hours to reflect development of teenagers
College is now accessible to some 14 year olds
Youth service provision and tacking closures has involved young people in Youth 2 Youth
So what’s stopping us? barriers and
opportunities
Here is a large brick wall we have made. Take at least three
pink bricks and write a barrier to participation on each of them.
• The bottom is barriers caused by big bricks like government,
media and society
• The middle is organisational bricks getting in the way
• The top bricks are our own personal barriers we put in the
way
Now take a brick from each section of the wall which are not
yours, write a solution on the green one and stick both
together and make an archway out of these!
Barriers and opportunities: just some of the points raised
• Media – national press has a downer but relations with local press
bear fruit with better relations and positive stories.
• Use of time and prioritising – always an issue and a challenge; it is
also what we do and how we do it that can create space through
effective and creative working, partnerships.
• Greater understanding of young people and what affects them will
build trust and fight our fears.
• Organisational issues – we are part of the culture of organisations
and in that respect we can and do have an influence. Use it. Be
part of building a positive culture.
• Encourage reflective practice.
• Beware of our own agenda. Put aside personal perspectives and
act as the advocate for young people rather than as gatekeeper
• Courage: build your confidence, draw on mentoring, alliances,
conversations, sustaining relationships.
• Build in time for training and supervision
• Paperwork?! Challenge; devise things that work with those you
work with, including children
Participation – how to move forward?
Some approaches to think about
• Salary review
• Chicken nuggets
• The MATRIX – mapping and exploring participation
approaches
The MATRIX – mapping and
exploring participation approaches
First we will explain how the Matrix works.
Now, take the pink postits and write one example of listening and
responding to children and young people on each and stick it up where it
best fits on the matrix:
• What sort of approach was it? (along the top)
• How participative was it? (up or down the ladder)
Now, do exactly the same thing with the green postits for approaches you
would like to develop in your work. Stick them up on the wall as before.
We now have a map of current approaches and a plan of future ones to
develop. What does the matrix show us?
Mapping participation: being listened and responded to on the immediate
personal things on the left; doing stuff with others in the middle; helping run
things on the right. Build from left to right, from participative to
representational democracy. There is a sound grouping of activity to build on.
Participation – how to move forward?
Personal practice to build on
• Speaking and listening
• Values alive: making our vision a reality
• Case studies
• Planning ahead
Speaking and listening
Form groups of 3
One person speaks to another and gives them up to 10
bits of information about them.
The listener now tells the third person what the speaker
said, remembering as many of the bits of information as
possible.
Now swap round twice more so that each person gets the
chance to be in each role.
Reflections: visual contact helped when giving information. There was
pressure but also support in listening and then sharing that information.
Hearing people sharing information about me can feel intimidating and I
would want the information to be right.
Values alive: our charter
In small groups look at the Milton Keynes participation charter
Jot down thoughts in answer to some of these questions:
• What do these core values mean to you?
• How do you put them into practice?
• What blocks this?
• What can be done by you and by others to help overcome
the blockages?
• What would this area or organisation look like if these
values were fully realised?
Values alive: our charter
Some reflections from small groups included:
What do these core values mean to you? They are important and we don’t dispute them.
Some are more relevant than others. The difficulty is the gap between vision and reality and
how they work out in day to day contacts and relationships – especially with scarce resources.
How do you put them into practice? Some are hard to put into practice and relate to level of
service provision and staffing. (“You have a right to have a say – in the time available!”) There
can also be tensions between different voices and needs among family members for example.
Is it that the loudest are those who are heard at others expense?
What blocks this? Time to develop trust; pressure to take part with us because of fear of not
doing so; young people’s negative experiences of talking to professionals; judgementalism –
receiving a services means losing entitlements to dignity and respect.
What can be done by you and by others to help overcome the blockages? Young
people’s activism is key as a role model and example of effective collective action.
What would this area or organisation look like if these values were fully realised? This
would be about what everybody does: our community, our journey; it is our shared experience
Case studies: learning from practice
Here are a range of practice situations and case studies.
Gather round one that interests you and explore these
questions
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the way
that children and young people are involved in this
example?
• What are the implications for your work?
• What opportunities for further learning and action does
this case study offer you?
You can write your thoughts and use these 2 tools to help
you gauge the nature of children and young people’s
participation
Increased participation
Some reflections on the case studies
1. Family group conference had good preparations, but perhaps not enough. They
lacked strategies perhaps to respond when things were wobbly. Perhaps having key
points in writing first would have help. It is important not to set the child up, to have a
strong facilitator, to have a range of techniques available and to focus on achievable
tasks.
2. Closure of youth club: a range of young people were consulted and there was a
means to formalise thoughts through speaking with managers. But it is not clear that
there had been an informed conversation about needs and outcomes and no sense
that young people were part of the commissioning cycle.
3. Take Over day offered an experience to some chosen young people of authority
and decision making, but it is not clear how far or how deep this went and what the
learning was for the adults as well as the young people themselves.
4. Sex and relationships education arose as an adult-led response to their
concern but then the young people took an active say in the development of the
programme. It is usually desirable for the young people to be involved in the thinking
and planning as early as possible to increase ownership and relevance. It would be
worth in this example following up those who did not take part to discover why.
In the hot seat
Some specific practice issues the team would like to explore
• Timescales in a specific piece of work to build relationships and trust
• Exploring and accessing different tools to gain the voice of the child
• Being mindful of siblings, especially when they are not in the room
• Being mindful of what is not being said
• Thinking about where to meet young people
• Reflecting on supporting the voice of the individual child in the
context of the parents, carers and siblings.
Planning ahead Some organisational priorities
The 7S standards
framework for
organisational change
in Hear by Right
encourages action
across each standard,
building from shared
values and style of
leadership.
Hear by Right can be found here:
http://hbr-archive.practicalparticipation.co.uk/HBR%20CD%20content%202010/HTML/index.html
Shared values (some thoughts added from other aspects of discussion in the day)
Review the charter and make it more accessible and as a working tool.
Raise the profile of participation across services : it’s everybody’s business.
Draw on and celebrate success stories.
Style of leadership
Be more accessible, visible and open. Come and talk to us.
Help break down walls between us and anonymity.
Experience and appreciate what we do and the challenges and conflicts we face.
Staff and skills
Consider staffing levels and the consequence of reduction on children and families.
Be mindful of the consequences and poor outcomes when not covering vacancies or
maternity leave quickly.
Appreciate and build upon the generic and specialised range of skills staff have in
responding to a wide range of ages and needs.
Build on the excellent skills base that exists.
Invest in mental health services and draw in the necessary skills within our teams.
Systems
Streamline paperwork and online forms
Speed up decision making
Review some of the ludicrous unintended consequences of ‘standardised’ computer
programmes. – “it takes 40 clicks of the mouse to close a case.”
Planning ahead: some personal priorities
• Take the action planning sheet
• On your own or in a small group of people you work with
• Decide on one priority you want to take forward and act on
from today and write this in the middle of the circle
• Use the force field to think about what can help and what can
hinder you
• Then use the planning grid to plot out the actions needed
• Take them with you and use them to take action
Promises on a post card
Fill out name, work address and a promise of what you
plan to do to increase children and young people’s
participation in your work in the next 6 months
We will send the card to you in a few weeks
The promises from participants included:
I promise to find out if young people have maintained the achievements and if not what
I could have done to ensure they do.
I am going to shadow the Children and Family practitioners and connect more with
them.
Be more aware of the initial voice of he child and to ‘listen’ to what they are saying and
reflect this in my work with them.
To continue doing what I am doing.
I promise to ask young people and children their views not once but throughout.
To use other strategies other than the 3 houses to capture the voice of the child or
young person.
To ensure that all the assessments I carry out include the voice of the child.
Look back at 3 houses throughout the casework to ensure the child’s initial views are
held throughout the plan of work.
Invite Roz and Emma to a regular slot at the meeting. Ensure the induction pack
reflects your voice and this is acknowledged in family plans.
What did you think of the day?
4 questions – on the bullseye chart
• How enjoyable was the day?
• How well did we all work together?
• How useful do you think the day will prove to be for you personally?
• How useful do you think the day will be for your team or organisation?
AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION
From the flipchart: bullseye!
From the written feedback
4.6 meeting aims and objective
5 level of tutor knowledge
4.87 style of delivery
4.5 personal benefits for work
Average: 4.74
Which parts were more useful?
• Planning ahead on the best
way to support young people
• Having the young people
doing the training
• Sticky wall matrix of different
approaches
• Unpicking the values charter
• Different activities used to
increase participation
“A very good day – having young
people present was brilliant.
Thank you.”
Contacts and support
[email protected]
[email protected]
Thank you