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CONSULTATION FINDINGS

SURVEY DATA

A national survey was developed by Young Scot and the Children's Rights Team at the Scottish Government to seek the views of a wide range of young people across Scotland, finding out their opinions on the issues raised by the United Nations Commission on the Rights of the Child's Concluding Observations following their 2008 review of implementation of the UNCRC in the UK. The national survey was available online through the Young Scot portal www.youngscot.org. The Young Scot Outreach Team promoted and distributed the survey offline at various local and national events. The survey was also sent to Young Scot's partner networks.

The survey was completed by 712 people in total but after 'cleaning' the data and excluding those over and under the target age range the final figure was 633. As can be common in many surveys, not all respondents answered all of the questions. Where data is shown as a percentage these have been rounded up to the nearest whole number.

The survey data has been segmented into three age groupings: 8-11 years old; 12-14 years old; and 15 -17 years old. This breakdown broadly reflects the educational / life stages we expected participants to be associated with, with the youngest group in primary school, the middle group in early secondary school and the oldest group in later secondary school, further / higher education, training or employment, thus enabling a more informed analysis. The age groups used in the workshops (8-11, 12-13, 14-15, 16-17) were considered too narrow to allow meaningful analysis.

DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN

Gender:

• 49% of participants were male and 50% were female with 1% identifying themselves as other.

Age:

• Most participants were of post primary school age with the number of responses from the younger age range (8-11) totalling just 17. This reflects Young Scot's and its partners' core audience but highlights that caution should be applied when considering findings about this group from such a small sample size.

Ethnicity:

• The survey was widely distributed through Dialogue Youth partners and youth networks.
• Young Scot staff also attended and distributed surveys at student events, the Young Scot Homecoming event, schools and other youth events. This was to encourage response from a cross section of young people.
• 65% of respondents identified themselves as White Scottish, although the fact that 20% of respondents did not answer perhaps suggests they were confused by the volume of options / structure of this section of the survey form.
• The ethnicity data capture section of the survey was based on ' Scotland's New Ethnicity Classification for Scottish Official Statistics' published by the Scottish Government, 2008.

Geographical Spread:

• Young people from 28 of the 32 local authorities took part in the survey with certain local authorities particularly well represented due to the co-ordination of activity in those areas.
• The four local authorities without any respondents were Moray, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles although awareness-raising activity on the UNCRC has taken place since in Orkney and Tiree.

Education/Employment status:

• 86% of respondents currently attend school as you would perhaps expect from this age group.

WHAT DID YOUNG PEOPLE SAY?

The purpose of this section of the survey was to gain an insight into the levels of awareness of the UNCRC and children's rights amongst young people in Scotland. We used some of the questions that featured in the Being Young In Scotland ( BYiS) 2007 survey as these were developed by YouthLink Scotland and SCCYP in conjunction with young people. The questions were intended to give us a 'snapshot' of levels of awareness of the UNCRC since the BYiS survey. However, it should be noted that the two surveys were designed differently, with the BYiS survey being much larger in terms of response and also being weighted to deliver a statistically representative sample.

Which rights have they heard of?

• 66% of respondents had heard of children's rights although both animal rights and human rights generated higher levels of awareness amongst children and young people.
• Awareness of rights generally appears to be high with the vast majority having some idea of what rights are.

'Other' rights mentioned included:

• • Women's Rights
  • Civil Rights
  • Workers Rights
  • LGBT Rights
• The 8-11 year old age group differed in that they were more aware of children's rights than other rights. This suggests that perhaps there has been a recent focus on the UNCRC in primary schools resulting in higher levels of awareness although, as noted above, the sample size for this group was small, necessitating caution when drawing conclusions from these findings.

Which rights do Young People say they know most about?

• When asked to decide which set of rights they think they know most about half of the respondents selected human rights.
• Although awareness of animal rights was higher than children's rights this awareness appeared vague as it did not translate into perceived knowledge with more young people saying they knew more about children's rights.

• Again, young people aged between 8-11 years of age were most likely to say they know more about children's rights than other rights.

Where did you find out about these rights?

• Participants were able to select more than one 'source' of information
• More than half of the respondents attributed some of their awareness of rights to teachers.
• The next most significant source of information on rights was television, with newspapers also being an important medium for developing an understanding about rights
• Parents also appear to play a major role in imparting information about rights
• Young people aged between 8-11 years old were most likely to get information relating to rights from another person rather than through a communication medium such as the internet, TV, radio or newspaper.
• Young people aged between 15-17 were most likely to get information about rights from media sources than other people.

• Girls were much more likely than boys to get information about rights from teachers.

Additional comments received in response to the question 'where did you find out about rights?':

Where is the best place to learn about rights?

• For the majority of young people we surveyed school was considered the best place to learn about rights
• Out of school learning environments were favoured by 40% of the total of those surveyed perhaps suggesting a role for youth workers in delivering rights education

Additional comments received in response to the question 'where is the best place to learn about rights?':

What do Young People know about the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child?

• One in four of the young people we surveyed stated they had never heard of the UNCRC
• Only 22% of participants indicated they knew at least a 'fair amount' about the UNCRC
• Fewer than one in twelve said they knew ' a great deal' about it

The group aged 8-11 years old were once again most likely to register a positive response with almost half saying they knew a great deal or fair amount about the UNCRC

• 12-14 year olds were least likely to register a positive response and most likely to say they had never heard of it or don't know about the UNCRC

Who do you think the 'Convention on the Rights of the Child' is for?

• Almost half of the respondents to our survey were able to identify that the UNCRC applies to almost all of the countries in the world (with the exception of the USA and Somalia)
• This suggests that even though general awareness of the UNCRC is patchy young people do recall this aspect of the UNCRC
• As you would perhaps expect, due to the significant numbers of young people who had never heard of the UNCRC, almost one in five respondents did not know who the UNCRC was for

How do young people feel about the UNCRC?

• Again, low levels of awareness of the UNCRC resulted in a high number of ' don't know' responses with almost one in three selecting this response
• The next most prevalent response was that the UNCRC is ' important to the lives of all children in Scotland'.
• Almost half of the young people thought the UNCRC was important
• Only one in ten young people stated ' it did not bother them'.

• Young people aged between 8-11 years old were most likely to think the UNCRC was important to all Scottish young people with over 40% of the respondents selecting this option. Again this perhaps reflects recent work in schools on the subject.

Additional comments received in response to the question 'how do you feel about the UNCRC?':

Identifying rights

• The aim of this question was to try and help us understand what things young people thought were important enough to be classed as rights. We wanted to find out what things they thought were currently rights for young people and which ones were not but should be.
• However, in hindsight, and from feedback received from respondents, the 'should be' component of the question may be confusing
• Various interpretations could be drawn meaning that the findings in relation to the 'should be' column are not robust enough to comment on. For example ' clean water' is identified by many as being a right currently whereas it scores lowly on should be a right where you would expect it to again score highly. This suggests people have misinterpreted the question. Maybe they thought as it already was a right they did not need to state it should be a right. This ambiguity means we can not be confident that we understand the intention or interpretation of the question by respondents. We can, however, be confident in the data gathered from the ' are rights' column as this was much less complex to interpret and as such have commented below
• 'Access to Education', 'Clean Water', 'Opportunity to Express your Opinion' and 'Access to Playgrounds and Leisure Centres' were identified by the majority of respondents to be rights for children and young people.

Additional comments received in response to this question:

Other issues relating to young people's rights

WORKSHOPS

The purpose of the workshops was to engage groups of young people in discussions about the UNCRC Concluding Observations and priorities for action for the Scottish Government. As noted in the methodology section the four groups we worked with were very diverse and as a result the methods we used to engage them varied. A summary of the findings from each of the groups is detailed below.

Pilot Session

Prior to commencing the four workshops we ran a pilot session to ascertain which engagement techniques and communication messages would be most effective. Although this session was not intended to be considered as part of the consultation it is included here as it was a particularly in-depth session and provided a large amount of data (see appendix).

Summary of findings for pilot session

• This group engaged very well with the subject matter.
• Some of the feedback suggested they would have happily taken a full day to discuss the subject in greater depth.
• 'Education' was the most common choice for the participants as the most important issue for them. Since this session, though, we have clarified with the Scottish Government that a distinction needs to be made between the right to education and rights in education. However, a lot of the comments received on this theme do relate to rights in education so this data is still valid.
• The second most important issue was the right to 'Freedom of Peaceful Assembly'. Here the debate around the perceived indiscriminate use of mosquito devices was particularly lively and a number of young people highlighted this theme following these discussions.
• 'Respect for the Views of the Child' was the next most important issue with young people suggesting that structures are often in place for young people to state their views to adults but rarely do they see any evidence of action being taken as a result.

The purpose of the session was to stimulate debate about the UN Committee's Concluding Observations and assess whether what the young people had learned during the session had

influenced them. Therefore we monitored where people stood at the start of the session and where they stood at the end in relation to the thematic issues. There was a significant degree of movement with a third of the young people changing from their initial positions, particularly to the right to 'freedom of peaceful assembly'. When prompted to explain why they had moved the participants cited strength of argument from peers or the acquisition of new knowledge from the exercise as being key motivators for re-consideration of their position.

The final exercise encouraged the young people to consider how they would address the issue that was most important to them or what they would like the government to do about it. Not all issues were covered due to some of the groups merging. The groups wrote the following responses on flip-charts.

Addressing the right to a decent standard of living

• Must address health
• Trying to cure poverty ? not really possible
• Issue of controlling the individual ? how is this done democratically
• Basic standard of living conditions
• Make sure the money from benefits are spent in the correct way
• Provide good housing with at least basic necessities to better health etc.
• Equality through the country, give the countries children a better chance in life instead of giving so much to immigrants

Addressing the administration of juvenile justice

• More options for estranged children in regard to visiting their parent
• More investment in problems
• More infrastructure and flexibility within the ASBO system
• More talking to child by appropriate authority

Addressing the right to respect the views of a child (young people)

• Some schools don't participate in youth forums, not giving people the chance
• Sending certain people that are seen as the tokens i.e. head boy/girl instead of from congress/forums
• Not enough feedback, people think they can't make a difference
• Not enough involvement from everyone not just those with an interest in youth participation
• Organisations out for tokenistic purposes - not taking on our views and having meetings when it suits them and not for the young people
• Actually have proof of people taking action on our views, it's all well and good to listen but there's no point to just listen to our views to tick a box

Addressing the right to an education

• Allow more flexibility to choose your own curriculum to suit you and your needs
• Invest in education to allow much more flexibility e.g. pick 2 or more social sciences or different combinations not currently possible
• Be allowed to manage your own time - choose how much of a certain subject you do, how long you study for and when
• Increase budget to schools
• Provide better exam support - supported study
• Improve sports facilities and facilities in general

Workshop One - Good Shepherd, Secure Unit, Glasgow

As discussed in the methodology section of this report we adopted a more streamlined approach to the remaining workshops. This resulted in more of a focus on dialogue in these sessions rather than writing and reading.

This group of young people brought an alternative insight into the lives of some young people in Scotland. However, awareness of the United Nations was limited so we spent some additional time explaining the role of the UN, the UNCRC and the themes featured in the Concluding Observations booklet. Following this we asked the five participants to select the issue / theme that in their view was the most important for Scotland to take action on, all of the participants selected Youth Justice, therefore we explored this theme first.

Youth Justice

• There was broad disenchantment with the Children's Hearing system amongst the members of the group.
• It was perceived to be unfair that strangers passed judgement on their lives and that often the supporting evidence used to make judgements in reports and documents was inaccurate.

"There shouldnae be three people sitting there telling ye what to do with yer life…when they've got nothing whatsoever to dae with you. It isn't right."

(Female Participant, Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

• When asked how this could be improved upon the group suggested that the same people should sit on the Panel each time the young person appears. They felt that this would enable some sort of relationship to develop which could foster a more holistic understanding of the young person.
• One young person stated she felt the Courts' system was better than the Panel because she knew where she stood:

"I would rather go to court 'cos the court, they tell you what's happening… the panel you have to go three months, three months, the court - it tells you straight…you are not going to the panel every three months getting your hopes up that you are going to get oot when you are no' going to get oot.."

(Female Participant, Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

• The current age of criminal responsibility was considered by the majority to be inappropriate:

"Most weans must be getting done with assault then …cos they are going about giving it pure yeehah."

(Female Participant, Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

• The majority of the group felt that 12 was an appropriate age to be held responsible for your actions.

Health & Wellbeing

• Sex education was discussed and the group felt there was a need to start introducing the subject earlier in young peoples' school career:

"You should get it [sex education] in primary school 'cos the weans these days man! Sheesh!"

(Female Participant, Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

• The provision of general health care was discussed. There was satisfaction with the services on offer although one person said they would like a young person only drop-in centre.
• The group next discussed addictions and the perceived ineffectiveness of the support they receive from health service provider:

"I've got an Addictions Worker. [Does that help you?] …no' really, she just takes ye oot for something to eat then takes ye hame again."

(Female Participant. Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

"They think that by taking ye oot it's going to stop ye taking drugs, not it's no, you just dae it after."

(Female Participant. Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

• When discussing initiatives to curb the availability of alcohol and cigarettes to those under 18 some of the young people felt these were ineffective:

"It doesnae matter anyway 'cos there's still people oot there who are gonnae go into the shop for us."

(Female Participant. Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

Freedom to be a child

• Some people in the group felt the design of tags contravened their freedom to be a child as they were so obtrusive:

"What if you want to wear a skirt or that?! It's no right!"

(Female Participant. Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

• Awareness of Anti Social Behaviour Orders was limited, even when prompted by the facilitator
• There was a strong commitment from some of the group members to looking after parents should the need arise:

"You should look after your parents, after all they looked after you"

(Female Participant. Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

• There was a consensus in the group that smacking should not be allowed. Some were surprised this was not already the case:

"If you skelp somebody in the street ye'd get charged for assault so how d'ye no' for hitting your weans? That's no right."

(Female Participant. Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

• The young people in this group felt strongly that you should be able to work before you are 16:

"I've been wanting a job since I was 14 or something!"

(Female Participant. Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

Family Life

• Most of the group felt they should be at home with their parents rather than in the unit, although one young person did recount that she had had more positive experiences in care than at home with her mother
• The group also felt the threat of incarceration did not act as a deterrent to getting involved in trouble
• When the group were prompted to consider alternatives to custody in the unit they suggested options which would enable them to participate in family life:

"They should give out more tags and curfews rather than being thrown in here. There should also be more Includem places"

(Female Participant. Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

"They should try us somewhere else first instead of just banging us in here…to give us a chance to prove ourself …instead of putting us straight in here."

(Female Participant. Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

"If they gie you somewhere else to go then they are giving you a chance and if you do well you don't come in to secure but if you mess up you go to secure."

(Female Participant. Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

• Most of the young people (one person disagreed) felt that there should be more care units for young people:

"I don't think there's enough 'cos I know people are still waiting to get in to one. If they cannae get in then they end up getting mad wi' it and end up in here [secure unit]."

(Female Participant. Good Shepherd, Glasgow)

At the end of the session we asked if anyone in the group had changed their mind about the most important thematic issue for Scotland to take action on. Everyone still felt Youth Justice was the most important which is perhaps as you would expect given their current circumstances.

Workshop Two - Centre for Homeless Young People, Glasgow

This group consisted of 10 young people, one of whom could not currently speak English. Again, awareness of the United Nations was limited with only one person having heard of it before this session. As discussed in the methodology the room was very small meaning we had to adapt our session plan. This resulted in us discussing the themes one by one sitting around a table. As we restricted our session to one hour we were unable to cover all of the issues although the young people were able to choose which thematic issues we discussed. As before we measured the young peoples' priorities before and after the session.

Session Summary

• The table below illustrates the thematic issues the young people felt were most important for Scotland to take action on before and after the session
• Two people chose not to take part at the start whilst three opted out at the end
• Health & Wellbeing remained the most common important issue for Scotland to take action on for this group although one person did move from this theme to Family Life and Children in Care even though this issue was not directly addressed.

* One young person, who had previously stated this one was the most important, couldn't decide between this and Family Life and Children in Care so wanted them both marked

Health & Wellbeing

• Some of the group felt that more money should be spent on treating addictions rather than on advertising or health promotion campaigns which warn about the dangers of addiction. They felt these were less effective as time goes on as young people tend to make their own minds up about drink, drugs and cigarettes following experimentation:

"There's no point in keeping repeating it [anti-addictions message] every year of their life. Do it for the first couple of years of their life at school and then after that spend the money on other things…because by the time it gets to their third year in school they've already tried it [drugs] and decided if they want to stay on it or not."

(Male Participant, CHYP, Glasgow)

• However, one person felt that spending money on treating addictions would encourage people to begin using drugs as they knew there would be support. She felt funds would be better spent on prevention
• The group debated poverty and some of them felt that 'real' poverty was what they had witnessed in the film 'Slumdog Millionaire'
• There was agreement that the Government should focus on attempting to achieve the eradication of child poverty by 2020 but the group were extremely sceptical that this would be realised due to current economic conditions
• There was slight disagreement within the group with regard to the delivery of health services. Some felt the provision just now was more than adequate whilst one young person felt there should be more counselling support:

"Most of us who are here have gone through stress…Counselling is really important for us as most of us do not know where we are heading, what we are supposed to do, we don't have parents who can guide us. So I think counselling, to lead us the right way, can help."

(Female Participant, CHYP, Glasgow)

• Some people felt the counselling services available to children and young people were inappropriate for their age:

"I had a counsellor and she would sit this teddy on the couch and you could talk to the teddy. How's that gonna help? That's gonna leave you needing a counsellor for the rest of your life! Like the teddy's gonna tell me what to dae."

(Female Participant, CHYP, Glasgow)

Fairness & Equality

• One person mentioned he felt the Police were guilty of stereotyping young people:

"…they'll stop and search you for no entire reason"

(Male Participant, CHYP, Glasgow)

• Social Workers also came in for a bit of criticism with regard to rights relating to fairness and equality:

"It's not like they are bad but …they don't really tell you like what are your choices…they don't tell you 'you have a right to say no'"

(Female Participant, CHYP, Glasgow)

"They want you to go to the easier option for them, less paperwork, which is not fair"

(Male Participant, CHYP, Glasgow)

• Some felt that the Social Workers they dealt with were maybe good at dealing with young people on paper but in reality struggled to communicate and build relationships
• There was also a consensus that the media do not take the best interests of young people into consideration when running stories about young people.

"If something stupid happens like a young person is gonna be a Da', they always make it in to some massive big thing. That would probably make things worse for him the fact that everybody 'round the country knows about it."

(Male Participant, CHYP, Glasgow)

• The issue of 'harmful devices' such as tazer guns caused a good degree of debate. Some of the boys felt that they were legitimate to use on children and young people as long as they were used properly. For them it was an issue of equality with adults:

"We're always goin' on aboot saying we want to be treated the same as adults, so then if we want to be treated the same as adults then we should be [subject to the same rules]"

(Male Participant, CHYP, Glasgow)

• The group were sceptical about groups that claimed to help young people have a say:

"Adults still make the decisions though don't they"

(Female Participant, CHYP, Glasgow).

Child trafficking & Exploitation

• The young people were able to relate to this issue from films they had seen such as Slumdog Millionaire and Blood Diamond

Implementation of the UNCRC

• The group were engaging less by this point but one young person mentioned that this was critical in terms of safeguarding all the other rights

Education & Play

• Some felt that school education should be made more relevant to life and the employment market:

"They should gie ye stuff ye need to know. Instead of gieing ye' something like, I dunno, Maths - bring work in to it [education]".

(Male Participant, CHYP, Glasgow)

• The group strongly expressed the view that they perceived that guidance and leadership, both in education and in preparation for adult life, was lacking:

"People don't know who to talk to [about careers]"

(Male Participant, CHYP, Glasgow)

"We don't know what we want to do 'cos our parents, our Father, can't lead us"

(Female Participant, CHYP, Glasgow)

• The majority of the group felt that most exclusions from school were, in their experience, justified although some do get excluded for "silly reasons" (Male Participant, CHYP, Glasgow).
• Some of the group felt there was a need for more facilities for young people, especially ones which were not sport related. Another suggestion was that there should be more age specific classes in the community you could go to, designed for young people only.

Workshop 3 - Hill of Beath Primary School, Fife

There were eight children in this group aged between 8 and 11 years old, all of whom attended the school. Awareness of the UNCRC was minimal so we spent time discussing children's right and rights more generally. As outlined in the methodology in this session we used the game Jenga as a medium for introducing the various concluding observations. The issues for discussion were determined at random by relating a number printed on the bricks to a concluding observation from the SCCYP booklet (we edited the observations to only include those we felt were appropriate for the group we were working with). This meant that the discussions were more specific around a particular observation than the previous sessions which had focused more on the wider theme. However for the purposes of reviewing the data the responses have been categorised under the thematic headings. We restricted our session to just over one hour and therefore we discussed a number of themes but were unable to cover all of them. As we did not use the poster method we only recorded the children's views on which thematic issue was most important for Scotland to take action on at the end of the session.

Session Summary

• Health & Wellbeing scored highest with half of the participants stating this was the most important thematic issue for Scotland to progress. The right to privacy was also regarded by a quarter of the participants to be the most important issue.

*Some of the children mentioned things that we had not discussed but, as they were obviously issues that they felt strongly about, we included them in the table

Health & Wellbeing

• The group discussed disability and had a good level of awareness of the issues facing young people with disability and felt facilities should be better:

"If you are out in the playground and you're playing [games like] tig or hide and seek, something like that, a game that involved running around then you would always end up being 'it' and if you were playing hide and seek you wouldnae get in any places."

(Male Participant, Primary School, Fife)

"This school isnae exactly built for people like that [people with disabilities have to use a ramp via a side door]

(Female Participant, Primary School, Fife)

• The UK Government target of eradicating poverty by 2020 was discussed. The group felt that this target was unlikely to be met due to the prevailing economic conditions.

Education & Play

• A number of the participants recounted personal experiences of bullying although there was a agreement that the school was quite good at managing it:

"Bullying would happen everywhere if it wasnae stopped but because there's rights n'that, they are able to stop it."

(Female Participant, Primary School, Fife)

• There was also an awareness amongst some in the group that bullying can be divisive and exclusionary:

"Some people, if they are getting bullied, might feel like they are getting left out and then if somebody else hears them getting bullied, like if somebody said something really bad like 'you stink' or something then the other person might no' want tae play with you. So you just get left out."

(Female Participant, Primary School, Fife)

• The group discussed the UN's observation that people's background should not be an indicator of their likely educational outcome. One young person summed it up well:

"So what you mean is if like yer Mum and Dad were on drugs and they are just young when they had ye,' and ye' had a bad background, and like yer house wasn't clean, and you didn't have proper food, and then you went to school and it affected yer education 'cos you weren't paying attention or something?"

(Female Participant, Primary School, Fife)

• The group discussed school exclusions. They were aware of people being suspended from their school and felt these were justified.
• Some of the group felt exclusions were inappropriate for children of primary age, however one young person felt it should not matter how old you are if the offence is significant enough such as causing serious physical harm to another person
• However, for secondary school students they felt a 'three strikes and you are out' rule would be appropriate because you "should be grown up" by then (Female Participant, Primary School, Fife).

Children Seeking Asylum

• The group required a fair degree of explanation about who asylum seekers were. However, after explanation they felt it was unfair to lock children up and suggested alternatives including accommodating people up in hotels or installing camera systems to monitor where people were.
• The group were very inquisitive about children seeking asylum and had lots of questions. They were concerned that children might be going back in to dangerous situations in their home country [following a failed claim].

Freedom to be a Child

• The participants felt that their right to privacy was important.

"You might be doing something you don't want other people to see, you might be reading a special diary or something."

(Female Participant, Primary School, Fife)

"Maybe just to hide something that you don't want anyone else to know…your private stuff"

(Female Participant, Primary School, Fife)

Family Life and Children in Care

• The group discussed the recommendation that more should be done to support parents and guardians to raise children. Some in the group felt that conditions could be created which foster family unity:

"If they [parents] don't bond with the child very much and just go out and do other things then they should go out bonding and actually sit down and do stuff together."

(Female Participant, Primary School, Fife)

• The recommendation to take children's views into account was discussed and the group felt this was good as long as the children and young people expressed themselves with sensitivity and did not hurt anyone's feelings.

Youth Justice

• The need to find alternatives to locking up children who are in trouble with the law was discussed by the group. The concept of having 'three strikes' was raised again by some:

"My opinion is if they get lifted three times they should just get put away."

(Male Participant, Primary School, Fife)

• However, some felt that children should only be locked up as a last resort, although they seemed unaware of young offenders institutions:

"Can you imagine that - a wee child in prison with loads of adults?"

(Male Participant, Primary School, Fife)

• One person in the group correctly identified the current age of criminal responsibility as eight years old. The majority felt this was too young, whilst two felt this was appropriate.

"When you get caught [by the police] It's no like you get arrested, they just talk to you."

(Male Participant, Primary School, Fife)

• Most felt an appropriate age was about 12 or " when you become a teenager" (Female Participant. Primary School, Fife).

Workshop 4 - Chirnside Youth Club, Scottish Borders

There were six young people in this group, all aged 12 years old. They all attended local High Schools. Awareness of the UNCRC was limited although some in the group did have a reasonable grasp of the concept of rights. We used the poster method for this group and we restricted the session to one hour as the young people had other activities scheduled following on from us.

Session Summary

• Child Trafficking and Child Exploitation was clearly the priority for Scotland to take action on according to this group.
• A number of people moved from their original position and when asked why they moved they felt the argument put forward by the people who originally felt it was important was very influential

Implementation of the UNCRC

• One young person felt this was the most important issue for Scotland to take action on because the other thematic issues were seen as dependent on these recommendations. Therefore implementation was deemed a priority for action.

Fairness & Equality

• Some young people felt that the use of tasers was legitimate if the young person was doing something seriously wrong. There was a similar discussion in the CHYP group and highlights the dichotomy often expressed by young people that they often want to be treated more as adults in some respects but appreciate the protection 'childhood' offers.
• The group were unsure about perceived discrimination from older people to young people but when prompted provided anecdotes of instances where they felt people had made judgements about them because of their age or choice of clothing.

Freedom to be a Child

• Most people in the group felt smacking and physical punishment was wrong " …it's a sin" (Female Participant, Chirnside Youth Club, Scottish Borders) although a couple felt it was appropriate in certain circumstances
• Two of the participants felt very strongly that the right to privacy was very important and recounted stories of Mums' reading private emails and text messages

Child Trafficking and Exploitation

• This theme, not really picked up by other groups, was very important for this group
• The group felt this was the most important issue for Scotland to take action because the children it affected were, in their opinion, in the most extreme need of help
• For them all the other issues were important but this was most pressing:

"How do you sleep at night if you are doing that [to children]?"

(Female Participant, Chirnside Youth Club, Scottish Borders)

LOCAL INVESTIGATION TEAMS

Local Investigation Teams ( LITs) are a peer research model Young Scot has developed which enables young people to participate in consultations in an informed way.

There were five LITs recruited as part of this consultation and each was made up of young volunteers, aged between eight and 17 who were supported by Young Scot and partner organisations in their local areas to carry out their own research into the issues around children's rights. Due to the tight timescale (the groups had to report their findings within four weeks) the LITs were equipped with video equipment to record and convey the young peoples' views.

The groups were given free reign to structure their project as they wished, we just asked that they focused their investigations broadly on the subject of children and young peoples' rights. As a guide we suggested they consider the following questions:

• How aware are you and your peers of your rights / the UNCRC?
• What rights are most important to you and your peers?
• What rights are not being respected in your area?
• What do you think the Scottish Government could do to make it easier for you to enjoy your rights?

Some of the LITs adopted these questions whereas others, notably the Children's Parliament LIT, applied a different approach to their research leading to a number of interesting findings.

SAVE THE CHILDREN LIT

Group Overview

This LIT comprised of young people from Gypsy Traveller communities, located in Fife and West Lothian, who had been working with staff from Save the Children on a number of projects including some previous work on children's rights. The eight young people who took part were aged 11-15 years old.

Process

The group constructed their own questionnaire on children's rights and used this to ask 85 of their friends and peers which rights they thought were most important (see appendix ). The results from the survey were compiled and for the top three rights considered most important the group scripted and performed role plays which illustrate the issues in question.

Findings

The LIT found that the joint most important issues for young people they surveyed was 'the right to be who I want to be' and 'the right to have fun'.

Using the video role play the group illustrate how the 'right to be who I want to be' can often be contravened by other young people when they judge and exclude people based on perceived difference. The group also demonstrate, via role play, that having fun is an important right for children and young people by enacting a situation whereby a young person is excluded from participating with his peers who are all having a great time in a swing park.

There were also two issues in joint second place. These were ' I have a right to a home of my own' and 'a right to health care'. Again the group brought these rights to life by using role play to illustrate their understanding of the issues.

The 'right to privacy' came in third place in the LITs research poll of the most important rights for children and young people. This was demonstrated by the group in the video as they perform a scene where a parent contravenes a young person's right to privacy by checking her text messages whilst she is out of the room.

FBS ADVOCACY LIT

Group Overview

This LIT was made up of five young people with learning disabilities who live in North Lanarkshire. The group were supported throughout the project by workers from FBS Advocacy, an advocacy support service for children and young people, and teachers from Fir Park school who knew the young people. The young people who took part were aged 10-16 years old.

Process

The young people identified four themes which they felt were most important for children and young people and warranted further investigation, these being rights in relation to: non-discrimination; mental health; play and education.

However, after the initial preparation sessions, in which teachers supported the young people to select questions and helped prepare them to ask interview questions, it was decided to focus on two topics - play and education - due to the limited time available.

The young people then structured a series of interview questions around these themes and interviewed lots of young people from four different schools in their area. The film features the responses they received.

Findings

The LIT found that the most important issues for the children and young people they spoke to were:

1. Better facilities in school playgrounds. The LIT found that most of the young people they spoke to had a positive outlook on school life but for a number of young people the facilities available in school playgrounds could be improved. Football, basketball and racquet sports would all improve the playground experience and encourage young people to play together. The group also heard from a number of young people that safe, warm spaces to shelter from the elements would be appreciated.

2. Safety. This was another common theme across all of the groups of young people the LIT interviewed. Some of the young people recounted how they occasionally did not feel safe playing outside in their area due to the activities of older children, young people and adults.

They felt this situation could be improved by providing well equipped and managed safe places where they could play and congregate.

3. Bullying. Some of the young people who were interviewed identified bullying as an issue which contravened children and young peoples' rights. They found that young people want bullying to be eradicated from the school environment and feel that more could be done to make this a reality.

ABERDEENSHIRE DIALOGUE YOUTH LIT

Group Overview

The young people who conducted this local investigation lived in the Kemnay and Kintore area of Aberdeenshire. The group, who were supported by a youth development worker from the local youth centre in Kemnay, was particularly interested in children and young peoples' awareness of their rights and the UNCRC.

Process

To explore this further they set about interviewing a number of their peers at an Aberdeenshire Youth Forum which was attended by over 80 young people from across their Local Authority. They asked a number of questions with the aim of assessing awareness of rights and determining which ones are considered most important for young people in their area. The group also explored ideas around how young people could learn more about their rights and how the Scottish Government could help make this happen.

Findings

The LIT found that for the young people they interviewed:

• awareness of children and young people's rights was very limited with very few saying they knew their rights and most others saying they knew very little
• one young person was able to correctly identify the UNCRC, however most young people had never heard of it
• the most important rights for the young people were 'safety', 'having a voice', 'having a roof over your head' and 'food and water'
• the most disrespected right was the right to 'have your voice heard' / 'be listened to' / 'not be ignored'
• the best places to find out about rights is from organisations such as Article 12, youth forums and the internet. It was also suggested that every young person should have their own personal copy of their rights as outlined by the UNCRC
• they felt the Scottish Government should do more to make young people aware of their rights and the UNCRC. This could be done by ensuring it is covered in schools and organising national events such as a 'rights day'.

CHILDREN'S PARLIAMENT LIT

Group Overview

This LIT was comprised of a group of 18 primary seven pupils who attend a primary school in Fife. The group were supported by the Children's Parliament who have worked with the participants for some time. As the group had previously undertaken investigations into children's rights, the supporting workers felt that the group would derive more benefit from exploring how children's rights interfaced with the children's experience of school as this was a key issue for children and young people. Therefore this LIT developed a project which investigated rights ineducation and considered the implications for the implementation of the UNCRC in schools .

Process

The children participated in an initial four hour workshop, a follow up two hour workshop and then undertook a task in their school. All activity was framed around six themes which provided a structure for exploring the interface between children's rights and the experience of school. The themes are:

1. Everyone is safe, cared for and included
2. Everyone is happy and healthy
3. Everyone has their say
4. Everyone is important and special
5. Inside and out: The school environment everyone wants
6. Everyone is learning

The children discussed and explored what each theme meant to them and working together with their classmates they identified the characteristics of a school which successfully delivered on each theme. In other words, for example: what would we see, feel or experience in a school in which where everyone is safe, cared for and included? The Children's Parliament LIT used drama to capture feelings and experiences which in turn allowed the children to articulate and record their views and aspirations for education and for Scotland's schools. A more detailed overview of the process applied by the Children's Parliament and the LIT's findings is available in appendix I.

Findings

As indicated above the group explored each theme in depth and identified a number of characteristics that represented what an ideal school would look like in relation to that theme. From these discussions priority characteristics were identified. Below is a list of the characteristics by theme with summaries provided in bullet form. (This is an abridged version of the findings provided by the Children's Parliament. A full version is available for review in appendix I).

1. Everyone is safe, cared for and included.

Characteristics included: Children and adults are respectful toward each other; Adults and children are treated equally; Everyone understands different cultures, religions and beliefs; Everyone has their right to personal privacy; Teachers understand children; Teachers trust children; Lessons are interesting for everyone.

• The children identified that underpinning the experience of rights in the context of school, family or community are the relationships which exist between children and adults.
• Children have a strong sense of fairness and social justice. Here they identify that school lessons should not only be interesting, something they identified as being a challenge to achieve, but that a school where children's human rights are respected is a school where in every classroom there is trust and understanding which links to the agenda around A Curriculum for Excellence.

2. Everyone is happy and healthy

Characteristics included: Children have a wide range of books and computers that are working; There is variety of choice of healthy, good, enjoyable food that is cooked in the school; There is active school work in and out of class; children work in teams to make learning fun (this includes in sports and music); School is clean and there are welcoming views all around; Playgrounds are large, clean and safe; they have some soft surfaces and nice features (like ponds); Children have someone they can talk to about their feelings, no-one else will find out, and you won't get into trouble for what you say.

• Playgrounds and outdoor spaces are important to children and should be expected to be clean and safe
• Children can have strong feelings and worries and they can sometimes struggle with who to go to. Children see that schools have the potential to be a setting where adults can listen and help. But these primary school age children also want support to be confidential and non stigmatising.

3. Everyone has their say

Characteristics included: The school has a booklet about rights and responsibilities to give to every child in the school; The school has a suggestion box for ideas to improve the school; At least once a year everyone gets together to have a discussion about the school community - everyone takes part including parents, the janitor, the cook, the teachers and the pupils; The school makes opportunities for adults to see the pupils' work; Pupils have their voice heard on topics like spending money and picking books and games; Teachers respect pupils and pupils respect teachers.

• The theme of relationships is reiterated as the children identify that to 'have your say' you actually also need to be listened to - and this requires respect for the views of the other.
• The children have identified an exciting idea about discussion [school 'conference'] about the experience of school across the whole school community - they also think this would be one of the things most difficult to achieve in Scotland's schools.
• The idea to supply every young person with a rights booklet is a recurring finding across three of the LITs.

4. Everyone is important and special

Characteristics included: Everyone starts school with a chat and breakfast; Everyone's achievements are recognised, however small; People find ways to encourage others; There are chill out and time out rooms; Everyone has time to talk; Everyone concentrates on the positives.

• The children identified that recognition and praise are fundamental to building confidence and success in the learner
• Across the LIT and back in the classroom they also identify that many characteristics on the theme of 'everyone is important and special' will be difficult to achieve.

5. Inside and out: The school environment everyone wants

Characteristics included: Equal - Everyone at school has the same chances and opportunities no matter where they live, no matter their age or race, religion or background; Warm - the school is well heated, maintained and looks cared for inside and out; Colourful - children are asked their opinions about colours for decorating and so the school is bright, cheery and warm; Welcoming - all staff are friendly, helpful and respectful to children and to each other; Safe - there are cameras, playground supervisors and safe and secure gates and doors. Everyone in the school is known; Eco-friendly - the school recycles and educates children about the environment and how to be eco-friendly

• The children have given some focus to the physical environment; recognising that physical aspects impact on emotional wellbeing and social relationships
• Again children recognise the power of adults to create a positive ethos in school.
• The children's identification of the need for everyone to be equal - and to see this as both most important and most difficult to achieve - reflects their concern and experience of inequalities in Scottish society.

6. Everyone is learning

Characteristics included: There is an even level of noise [in the classroom] because that can be constructive; Children are given responsibilities and allowed to be independent; Pupils with special needs like dyslexia, behaviour problems or who are behind in work get more attention; Teachers and adults find out about children's interests; There are times to be serious and times to have fun; Children go outside for lessons and are free to explore nature; Children meet role models to show learning is fun and worth doing.

• In all our work [Children's Parliament] with children about their experience of school children always identify the importance of learning, and their commitment to doing their best. These characteristics reflect that and show their interest in schools tapping their interests in both fun and serious ways which again links to the Curriculum for Excellence
• Children were positive in their discussion about some children needing extra or additional support.
• The children have identified the use of role models to inspire them in their learning but also saw this as an aspiration schools may find it most difficult to achieve; this may point to more use of peer educators and the use of external adults in the classroom.

SOUTH AYRSHIRE DIALOGUE YOUTH LIT

Group Overview

Six looked after and accommodated young people from the South Ayrshire region came together to form a local investigation team exploring children's rights. The group were supported by workers from South Ayrshire Council's Throughcare team and really engaged with the project. The LIT reported back that the process of investigating children's rights and making the film was really enjoyable and worthwhile.

Process

The South Ayrshire LIT was particularly active. They met a number of times to learn about their rights and devise a set of questions to ask their peers. The group then undertook a number of visits to local organisations to conduct their research and interview young people on video. Similarly to the Aberdeenshire LIT they asked a number of questions with the aim of assessing awareness of rights and determining which ones are considered most important for young people in their area. The group also explored ideas around how young people could learn more about their rights and how the Scottish Government could help make this happen.

Findings

The LIT found that for the young people they interviewed in South Ayrshire:

• awareness of rights was very limited with some young people saying they didn't think they had any rights at all
• the majority of the young people they met were reluctant to discuss rights due to limited knowledge and 'confidence issues'
• for those that knew about their rights they did not realise these came with responsibilities too
• some young people feel that their rights are not respected and that they are not listened to
• some feel it's hard to put you opinion across if you are a child or young person
• most important rights are: 'know who you are'; 'freedom of speech'; 'privacy'; 'live your life'; 'life'; 'somewhere to stay'; 'to be helped to live with your family'; ' to have a say in decisions which affect you'; 'be protected from harmful drugs'.
• Best place to learn about rights: parents; teachers; social workers; Throughcare Services; Quarriers; family members; friends; the Government.

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