Sam Frankel and Kate BaconSam@act4.org.uk KVBacon@uclan.ac.uk

ENGENDERING A COMMON GOOD: CHILDREN’S PERSPECTIVES ON THE BIG SOCIETY

INTRODUCTION

Starting points:

Our interest in exploring children’s agency

Children’s perspectives on the ‘good society’

Backdrop of Big Society Agenda: NCS National Citizen Service

Representations of Children in NCS

Who is the Big Society for?

Is it inclusive of/ reflective of children’s perspectives

BIG SOCIETY‘The Big Society is a society in which individual citizens feel big: big in terms of being supported and enabled; having real and regular influence; being capable of creating change in their neighbourhood’ (Big Society Network webpage) Generating a ‘more self-reliant participative society’

Through:• Social Action• Public Service Reform• Community Empowerment

WHAT KIND OF CITIZEN? AccountabilityEngagementPersonal responsibilityObligationActivismDo-er and go-getter

CHILDREN IN THE BIG SOCIETY

Children as agents?

Children surrounded by assumptions? Lack competence to engage

A big society for ‘big’ people?

NATIONAL CITIZEN SERVICE

a more cohesive society

a more responsible society

a more engaged society

ANALYSIS – SO FARA rite of passage:

‘we have worked hard to build a really special and rich rite of passage experience for young people on the cusp of adulthood’.

ANALYSIS – SO FAR

•Phase 1: An introductory phase in which expectations will be set and relationships built between participants and staff.

•Phase 2: A set of tasks, completed in a residential setting away from home, which are personally challenging (typically in the form of an outdoor challenge experience), and focused on personal and social development (one week).

•Phase 3: A set of structured tasks involving visiting and helping the local community and developing skills, again the aim is that this would be completed in a residential setting away from home (one week).

•Phase 4: Participants to design a social action task in consultation with the local community (one week).

•Phase 5 onwards: A period of 30 hours of social action on a part-time basis

RITE OF PASSAGE – 16 YEAR OLDS

‘…the long-term aim is for NCS to become a rite of passage for all 16-year-olds.’

’… We want to create a new rite of passage, National Citizen Service, which will bring 16-year-olds together from all different backgrounds to give them the skills and confidence to make a difference in their communities.

‘… move towards the Government’s ultimate goal to make this a rite of passage and give every 16-year-old the chance to get involved’.

The Government’s ambition is to make NCS available to all 16-year-olds so that it becomes a rite of passage …’

Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society, said:“I want National Citizen Service to become a rite of passage into society and an experience that young people share regardless of their background or where they live in England.

RITE OF PASSAGE – WHY 16?- FINISHING SCHOOL

A ‘key point of transition’

NCS is ‘designed to be open to all young people in the academic year that they turn sixteen’.

‘The pilots are expected to provide about 10,000 places for school-leavers …’

‘Aimed at school leavers aged 16, the pilots will …’

‘Starting in July, after exams have finished…’

‘Following the end of the exam period …’

RITE OF PASSAGE – WORK

NCS ‘has the power to create a generation of ‘work ready,’ well rounded young people with raised aspirations and greater opportunities in their future’.

‘We hope this will create positive influences and greater chances for networking and social mobility when participants are at a transition point in their lives and considering career paths and future directions’

‘we hope business will work with us on incentives and reward schemes for successful NCS graduates …NCS graduation should eventually be a passport to the next stage of a young person's life. An essential mark on anyone's CV - that employers look for’.

RITE OF PASSAGE – TRANSITION + FUTURITY

‘National Citizen Service is designed to promote: ... a more responsible society by supporting the transition into adulthood for young people’.

Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd said, after NCS, ‘The next generation will be ready to use the massive devolution of power to communities that underpins the Big Society’ .

They will gain valuable life experience and new skills, make friends from all walks of life and prepare themselves for their futures – while playing a part in making their communities better

Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society, said: “Young people are our future, and we need to harness their energy, enthusiasm and motivation at an early age so that we can motivate them to make a difference for themselves and to the lives of those around them in their communities.”

Above all it’s going to inspire a generation of young people to appreciate what they can achieve and how they can be part of the Big Society

NCS will act as a gateway to the Big Society for many young people, by supporting them to develop the skills and attitudes they need to get more engaged with their communities and become active and responsible citizens

RITE OF PASSAGE – BECOMING:

YP

Develop

Learn

NCS

Teaches

Helps/ Gives

Prepares

Supports

Outcome = NCS graduate

Skills Life skills

Leadership

Communication/ Socialising with a mixture of different

people

Teamwork

Attitudes + values Resilience

Confidence

Autonomy

Responsibility

Respecting difference

Respecting equal opportunities

Knowledge How to make a difference to their communities

Understand civic responsibility

How to create a society that they want to live in

What it means to be socially responsible

NCS – SOCIETAL IMPACT

Individuals can change society

YP are the future of the Big Society/ good society

Adulthood (despite it being a difficult transition) is about being a responsible, autonomous, effective, active and engaged citizen.

DISCUSSION

Children’s Voices

Children as Competent

Children ‘occupy a moral space where adults do not always respect their moral agency but nevertheless expect them to take on responsibility’ (Mayall, 2002: 87)

What do children lack?

In Process Out

16-year-olds/ YP/ school-leavers

Key point of transition /

cusp of adulthood

Phases 1-5

Challenging

Opportunities‘A kind of non-military national

service‘.

DevelopingLearningTeachingHelping

PreparingSupporting

Life-changing

IMPACT ON INDIIVDUALS

Skills: Life skills; Leadership; Communication (Socialising

with a mixture of different people); Teamwork

Attitudes & Values: Resilience; Confidence

Autonomy; Responsibility; Respecting difference & equality; work-ready; well –rounded; raised

aspirations

Knowledge: How to make a difference to their communities; How to create a society that they want to live in;

Understand civic responsibility; learn what it means to be socially responsible

IMPACT ON SOCIETY:builds community spirit’, helps to challenge public

and YPs own expectations/ perceptions of what they can achieve, ‘builds/promotes a more

cohesive, responsible and engaged society’, ‘builds a bigger, stronger society we all want’

YP as future of Big Society

CONCLUSION

NCS reveals pictures of childhood, adulthood and good citizenship

Discourse of lack

Centered around the Big Society agenda and values