Background
We set out to learn more about Youth Voice in the country’s music education organisations. Learn more about our approach and findings.
Youth Voice
We use the term ‘youth voice’ to refer to any activity that empowers young people to have their thoughts, opinions and ideas heard, valued and acted upon; to shape, lead and produce their own activities; or to be involved at a governance level of organisations and be part of decision making. We discovered that youth voice in music education settings is relatively unexplored and little discussed nationally.
ReWired Research
We launched the ReWired national survey in February 2015 to gather information about existing youth voice activities in music education across England for the first time. We also held a national summit at Roundhouse in July 2015, which was an opportunity to hear from organisations across the country and consider what a national youth voice in music might look like. This website opens up our findings and shares resources in the hope that we can kick-start a bigger debate about youth voice, and raise its profile for organisations working musically with young people.
What we found
The results paint an interesting picture of the current status of youth voice and empowerment activities. There are encouraging signs of organisations working to empower young people, but also clear challenges faced in making youth voice a reality. You can explore the organisations surveyed and read an overview of our initial findings in the project’s Executive Summary. We hope the ReWired findings and resources will help organisations develop their own youth voice practice, and also support us together to work towards a national youth voice in music.
Organisations
We collected detailed responses from 22 organisations who together are engaging with more than 5,000 young people each year.
Resources
Reports, videos and articles to inform and inspire.
Youth Engagement Equaliser
The Equaliser is a tool to help you learn more about Youth Voice & Participation, consider what you are already doing and identify aims for further development.
ReWired: Promo Video
Sound Connections and Wired4Music believe that youth voice is at the heart of all meaningful activity for young people. Watch this video to get an insight into the ReWired project and those who are contributing to it.
ReWired Literature Review
Young Researcher & Wired4Music member Siân Dicker-Thorne, shares the research into the field of youth voice undertaken to provide a foundation of knowledge for ReWired: a mapping project of best practice in youth voice in music across the country.
Data Report: Scoping National Youth Voice in Music
Young Researcher & Wired4Music Member, Siân Dicker-Thorne, lays out some of the survey findings from Rewired – a research project scoping national youth voice in music.
Youth Participation through Music
This briefing paper, written by former Sound Connections Programme Manager Lawrence Becko, describes how the principles of democratic participation can be applied in a musical context. The paper explains the process through which Wired4Music was developed, the benefits this has had for young people and the lessons the Sound Connections team learnt.
ReWired Survey - Executive Summary
Our National Youth Voice Survey collected information about Youth Voice activities from 22 organisations across the country. This executive summary brings together some of our early findings from an initial analysis of that data.
