Children, Young People and Democracy in Wales
Senedd, Cardiff, 20th June 2018
The 'Children, Young People and Democracy in Wales' event aimed to draw attention to and stimulate thinking about key issues relating to the place of children and young people in Welsh democracy today and the opportunities for nurturing the guardians of democracy for the future. It was coordinated by Helen Mary Jones of the Morgan Academy, Swansea University, and Professor Jane Williams, from the Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law and the Observatory on Children's Human Rights. It was held at the National Assembly for Wales (Senedd).
At the event, Dr Luca Trenta joined Dr Matthew Wall (Swansea University) for a session of the project: 'Stand where you stand – talking and thinking politically.’ Dr Wall's project is an interactive, deliberative teaching innovation. The sessions allow students to map out their political positions physically – by ‘taking a stand’ on a series of printed astroturf mats which feature different political positions.
Dr Wall and Dr Trenta guided students through a discussion session – fleshing out their thoughts on key political issues and hearing alternative viewpoints in a respectful manner. Students were then presented with a visualisation of how their viewpoints map against the policy stances of major political parties. The session was highly successful. Issues discussed included: votes at 16; whether countries should intervene militarily to stop mass violence in other countries (humanitarian intervention), Brexit, and the trade-off between security and terrorism. Schools involved included: Pentrehafod School and Blackwood Comprehensive School.
On the later topic, pupils identified the existence of a 'privacy barrier' that the government should respect. They highlighted the risks of false positives in the search for suspicious behaviour. They also suggested the need for greater attention to the intent of those engaging in apparently suspicious behaviour.
