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Youth has its say on education

A new Youth Select Committee,  mirroring  the UK Parliament Select Committee structure, will give young people the opportunity to scrutinise and discuss government policy on the 2013  topic  ‘Education for Life’. Among those elected to the Committee is Hastings’ own Solomon Curtis writes HOT’s Chris Cormack.

The Committee’s current mandate – “Education for Life” – comes from an issue  prioritised by members of the British Youth Council and UK Youth Parliament after a national poll of over 250,000 young people. The Youth Select Committee will hold open evidence sessions in June and July and report in the autumn.

The eleven committee members are aged 15-18, with two Members of the UK Youth Parliament (MYP), including Hastings’ Solomon Curtis, two youth councillors, the Young Mayor of Bristol, one elected representative from each of the devolved nations and three reserved seats for minority groups. Natasha Browne, the eighteen year old MYP for Solihull  elected Chair of the Committee, said: “It’s important that young people get the right support to equip us with the skills to be successful in later life. Schools are the focus of young people’s lives and, as a Committee, we look forward to hearing what people have to say about the role of the education system in equipping young people with skills for life”.

The 2013 Youth Select Committee inquiry, which concerns the role of the education system and the national curriculum in equipping young people with the skills for later life, will look at the support currently available in schools to develop young people’s “life skills” such as personal finance, political education and cultural awareness.

Chair Natasha Browne said the Youth Select Committee would look at the following issues as part of its inquiry:

• The responsibility of the education system to equip young people with “life skills” such as political education, personal finance and cultural awareness.
• The current state of “life skills” provision in schools.
• The support currently available for teachers to deliver lessons and programmes on life skills.
• Whether the school education system gets the balance right between academia and “life skills”.
• Whether the teaching of “life skills” should lie within core subjects or as a separate part of the curriculum?
• How much involvement young people have in shaping the Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) and citizenship curriculum.
• How PSHE and citizenship teaching is implemented differently in schools.
• What the UK government can learn from others about the teaching of “life skills” to young people.

The Committee call for evidence closes on 4 June and the YSC will hold oral evidence sessions in the House of Commons in June and July 2013.   Solomon Curtis MYP ,  Member of UK Youth Parliament For Hastings, Bexhill and Upper Rother, said:

Solomon Curtis MYP - copyright British Youth Council

“I’m excited to be part of a really productive committee that will enquire the key successes and faults in the curriculum. I’m therefore privileged to represent young people nationwide by addressing their views on our national curriculum. Education is and always will be the key to our success as a nation and by empowering young people we will hopefully see real improvement in such a vital part of society.”

The initiative is part of the Youth Voice partnership funded by the Department for Education, Westminster and Local Authorities. At the end of the inquiry the Committee will produce a report setting out its findings and making recommendations to the Government, who will then respond.

Individuals and organisations can submit evidence to the Youth Select Committee by emailing: bycyouthselect@parliament.uk 

Sign up to BYC’s fortnightly newsletter, The Voice, for updates on the Youth Select Committee.

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