Executive SummaryIn our challenging economic climate, young people will need to develop the skills and understanding to pursue and develop innovative solutions in both their own lives and for the organisations they join and create as the UK seeks new opportunities to meet the future. There has been little systematic analysis however of how and where young people innovate, or of how that innovation can be best supported and developed.The focus of our research is youth-led innovation, whereby young people instigate potential solutions to a problem, often one that they have identified or defined themselves, and take responsibility for developing and implementing a solution. Our report analyses the research to date on youth-led innovation and identifies evidence of impact. It highlights that opportunities to participate in innovation increase young people’s likelihood to innovate in the future and what helps or hinders youth-led innovation. We offer proposals for encouraging more young people to take part in youth-led innovation, which were developed with focus groups of young innovators and organisations that work with them. Alongside this research, the National Youth Agency and Changemakers have produced a NESTA guide for practitioners on youth-led innovation and illustrative case studies.We identified three domains in which youth-led innovation occursIn the commercial/service domain, examples of youth-led innovation include the many fashions, music, software and design of services started by young people. The civic/political domain relates to citizenship and the right to participate on an equal basis in order to achieve this citizenship. The innovation may be in the process, its impact on public services or even a specific outcome such as a change in law. The cultural, subcultural or countercultural domain is where the more anarchic characteristics of young people are often played out, for example through music and fashion subcultures.In each domain, examples of youth-led innovation range from those that are entirely youthled, to those initiated by adults but taken over or influenced by young people. In any of these, the capacity for further innovation may develop. The domains are not mutually exclusive: what began through punk as a countercultural force was made commercially popular by record producers like Malcolm McLaren and designers such as Vivienne Westwood. More recently, games manufacturers have adopted as commercial features some innovations in computer games developed illegally by young people.Young people’s innovation can have major economic, cultural and social impactIn 2007, the UK’s 7-19 year olds spent £13.9 billion; with clothes, computer games and ‘going out’ being major areas of spend. In these sectors, in their search for the new, young people stimulate the demand for innovation and diffuse new cultural trends. Young people now play a formative role in computer gaming, where most computer games products offer producer-established online communities that innovate around the products. In the music and film industries, radical and disruptive innovations by young people as ‘outlaw users’, such as illegal filesharing, have forced major changes in the industries’ products and business models. Young people have developed new technological processes, including languages for text messaging, online etiquette and new online social networks.Young people have gained new rights through innovative civic activism, including a greater say in the running of many schools. Public bodies are also increasingly recognising the role of young people as users and service designers. Some local authority Children’s Services have led the way in involving young people in public service design. In Trafford, for example, Evaluating Services Provided (ESP) has increased young people’s awareness of services by awarding an ESP ‘Youth Approved’ standard to providers of services that successfully take part in a youth-led process of improvement.Young people’s innovation skills can be developed from an early ageYoung people can best develop the skills for innovation by receiving positive feedback and recognition for early successes and having opportunities to experience successful innovation for themselves. These experiences increase young people’s confidence in their ability to identify problems and find solutions; life skills that are increasingly demanded by employers. Young people’s innovation is usually associated with teenagers, but studies of younger children demonstrate the benefits of teaching design, problem solving or critical skills for developing the capability to innovate.But young people who want to innovate face many barriersThe practical constraints of legal age restrictions on banking, setting up companies and applying for patents can act as barriers. Young people also face challenges in getting financial backing and support from being perceived as too inexperienced to be taken seriously. Galen Brown of Stromness in Orkney was 15 when he invented a device to save money and power when appliances are on stand-by. His biggest problems were not technical, but not knowing investors or licensees and his age, which limited access to business support. Social inequalities and living in rural communities can also create barriers, restricting young people from accessing the information and social networks that can help them develop their ideas. To use online networks and to gain access to the knowledge, resources and networks they need for innovation, young people need digital access. The ‘disenfranchisement’ of those whose families cannot afford broadband and computers can be a profound barrier for young people who have ideas.Too much adult control can inhibit innovation. There are also more subtle barriers. Adults need to facilitate rather than teach innovation. Young people need the freedom to develop new ideas and concepts themselves. For adults to ‘let go’ or ‘hand over’ resources and decision-making requires sensitive handling and a degree of courage: young people themselves sometimes need to be challenged if their perceptions of authority inhibit them from taking the lead. Young innovators suggest that some teachers are too helpful; stifling students’ ability to think for themselves. And, as adultinnovators experience, new ideas can be ridiculed or ignored.Negative cultural attitudes towards young people inhibit innovationTo be innovators, young people need to feel confident of the worth of their ideas and that their contribution is valued and can make a difference. Both the literature and our focus groups identified that negative attitudes towards young people are a major barrier to innovation. Recent research by UNICEF5 showed that the United Kingdom ranked bottom of the 21 industrialised countries in children’s self-perceptions of well-being. Language can make a difference: negative media coverage that generalises about ‘youth’ and labels young people ‘kids’ exacerbates the problem.Click here to continue readingPublished: July 2009Authors: Judy Sebba, Vivienne Griffiths, Barry Luckock, Frances Hunt, Carol Robinson and Steve Flowers.Publisher: NESTASee More

Executive SummaryThis review introduces readers to the field of consultation work with young people. It is not a comprehensive review of all published literature (as is, for instance, the review by Coad and Lewis, 2004), but it indicates some relevant references, broad schools of thought, major conceptual issues and practical approaches, as a guide for those who are interested in this area. The first section discusses why the views of young people should be sought, listened to and acted upon. It looks at a number of factors that make this an increasingly commonsense step to take. These include:legal models, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child;government policy agendas, such as Every Child Matters;the recent emphasis on citizenship and on ‘learner voice’;theoretical frameworks that have argued for a view of children as ‘social actors’;commercial drivers, such as children’s disposable income and influence over family spending in an increasingly consumer-dominated society; andevidence of the benefits of consultation to young people themselves.In Section 2, the review discusses outcomes and the important message that young people need to feel that being consulted has had some impact and that they have been listened to. These are issues that must be clarified before embarking on any consultation with young people.Section 3 looks at the range of methods and methodologies available to researchers investigating the perspectives and opinions of young people, and how the choice of approach affects the data collected and the results obtained. There is increasing attention being given to inviting young people themselves to participate in research, as researchers or consultants and section 3.2 briefly explores this terrain. More ‘traditional’ social sciences are covered by• Section 3.4 – quantitative methods such as surveys.• Section 3.5 – qualitative approaches: group and individual interviews;ethnography and observation.• Section 3.6 – established forms of representation such as Youth Councils, and more recent versions of these, such as consultation events and deliberative approaches.More recently a number of innovative methods have evolved that aim to access different aspects of young people’s experience and to allow views to be expressed in a range of forms. Section 3.7 therefore discusses creative and non-verbal forms such as photography and video, art-based approaches including drawing, collage, sculpture, and audio approaches; guided tours; role-play and drama. Section 3.8 looks at how new media are being used to develop online approaches to consultation, potentially over wide geographic areas.Section 4 is devoted to research with younger children, defined as aged 11 and below, and it also looks at work with under-5s.Section 5 considers ethical issues and the appendix contains a checklist of key questions about ethical issues.Finally, a bibliography that indicates particularly useful texts is given at the end, although references to website resources are given within relevant sections.Click here to continue to readAuthor(s): Sara BraggPublisher: Culture and Education Series, NewcastlePublication year: 2010See More