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New research explores the impact of children and young people's advisory groups

17 Apr 2025

Last year we were delighted when master’s student, Katie Gilmartin, chose to carry out her placement-based dissertation with Children in Scotland. Studying an MSC in Social Research at The University of Edinburgh, Katie’s dissertation explored how children and young people’s advisory groups impact the work of national organisations.

After conducting interviews, focus groups and running surveys, Katie’s final paper shared the findings and knowledge gathered with the aim of supporting third sector organisations looking to establish meaningful participation.

Here, we speak to Katie about what inspired her research and how she hopes it will help organisations working with children and young people.

What inspired your research and why did you choose to conduct it with Children in Scotland?

My interest in research and youth participation comes from my own experience as a teenager involved in peer research, where I contributed to several projects researching other young people. This made me appreciate the importance of listening to children and young people and ensuring they have a say in decisions that affect them. I wanted to contribute to this by exploring how organisations can better support young people’s participation.

I chose to work with Children in Scotland because their values closely align with mine. Their focus on collaboration particularly stood out to me, but I also appreciate their commitment to being brave, kind, open, and fair. Their work emphasises meaningful engagement with children and young people, which was central to my research.

How do you hope your research will be used by those working with children and young people?

I hope my research will provide useful guidance for organisations looking to improve how they engage with children and young people within advisory groups. By identifying key areas for improvement, the findings can help organisations create more effective and meaningful participation opportunities.

The research highlights practical steps that organisations can take, including:

  • Strengthening communication between advisory groups and the organisation to ensure young people feel informed and involved.
  • Creating a more flexible and adaptable environment that allows young people to engage in ways that suit them.
  • Recognising that participation should be an ongoing process rather than a one-off event, ensuring young people have a consistent and valued role.

By applying these recommendations, organisations can improve the way they involve children and young people in decision-making, making their work more inclusive and responsive to their needs.

Can you tell us about your experience working with Children in Scotland?

My time with Children in Scotland was really positive. From the start, the team was welcoming, and the environment was supportive. This was my first experience working in an office setting, and it gave me a great insight into a positive professional workplace.

A highlight of my time with the organisation was attending Children in Scotland’s 2024 Annual Conference at Murrayfield Stadium. It was a great opportunity to meet professionals from different sectors and hear about the work being done to improve outcomes for children and young people. It was valuable to see how research, policy, and practice come together in this space.

Now that your dissertation is complete, what's next for you?

After finishing my dissertation, I moved from Edinburgh to Manchester for a job as a researcher at AQA, an awarding body for GCSEs and A-Levels in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. My work involves engaging with schools, teachers, and students, applying my research skills in an educational context.

While my research with Children in Scotland focused on youth participation, my current role is giving me a broader perspective on how research informs education policy and assessment.

This experience is helping me develop new skills, and I’m excited to see how I can apply them in the future.

Read Katie’s full research paper 'Empowering young voices: the impact of children and young people’s advisory groups on national organisations'

About the Author

Katie Gilmartin spent six-weeks with Children in Scotland carrying out her placement-based dissertation on the impact of children and young people's advisory groups.

Empowering young voices

Read the full research paper 'Empowering young voices: the impact of children and young people’s advisory groups on national organisations' written by Katie Gilmartin and developed with Parisa Shirazi.

Read now

Participation and engagement work

Find out more about how we embed the inclusion and participation of children and young people in our work

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Annual Conference 2025

Making Space for Voices: Join our Annual Conference in Glasgow on 28 and 29 May 2025

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Interview with Fiona Duncan, Independent Strategic Advisor on the promise

10 Apr 2025

Since 2020 Fiona Duncan, Independent Strategic Advisor on the promise, has been focused on keeping the promise that was made to the thousands of care experienced children, young people and adults who shared their voices and views during the Independent Care Review. With 2025 marking the halfway point of the promise, Fiona discusses tackling barriers, making progress and how she is continuing to listen and act upon the experiences of the care experienced community.

The full interview is included in Issue 7 of Insight magazine.

Interview by Sophie Ward

Sophie Ward: From the outset of the Independent Care Review, the care experienced community was to sit at the very heart of all work to keep the promise. How do you continue to prioritise their views as you progress towards 2030?

Fiona Duncan: Children, young people, care experienced adults and families - in and on the edge of the care system - were at the heart of the entirety of the care review, all its processes and all its outputs. The conclusions were accepted in full in Parliament, across all parties, on the same day, at the same time - it really was a phenomenal moment.

The reports reflect what the care community said, what they need and what matters most to them – I use this to prioritise everything I do. There continues to be a strong thread between what was said during the care review and all actions being delivered today.

There were some significant external, unforeseen circumstances that happened not that long after the conclusion of the care review. We had the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis – these things didn’t impact all members of society equally. I'm staying true to the conclusions of the care review, while also recognising that the world has changed since it was published.

A huge amount of change is happening so people's priorities are shifting with that. It’s important to keep pace, so I continue to listen, and the care experienced community remain at the heart of change.

SW: Plan 24-30, launched last June, discusses how we must ‘shift how change is made’, can you explain the new approach that you have had to take to make progress on keeping the promise?

FD: No child, family or care experienced adult lives in a silo. No child or family or care experienced adult only engages with one system. Perhaps a child gets a bus to school, there’s two systems already. They might be a member of a local club, they might like to go swimming, there are multiple systems around that child. A plan that depends on only one system could entirely miss the point of how people live their lives.

Some folk are uncomfortable with how unorthodox Plan 24-30 is - they prefer a printed document. A lot of people were uncomfortable with how radical the Independent Care Review was too. But previous reviews and plans haven’t worked, so there is a need to do something different. What we’ve designed is the best chance we’ve got.

SW: The first four years of keeping the promise have presented barriers to creating whole system change, how do you plan to tackle these going forward?

FD: To inform the development of Plan 24-30, The Promise Scotland wrote to over 100 organisations with statutory duties asking them how they were getting on and what was getting in the way. Over 160 documents were received with significant issues repeated – whether that was policy, data, scrutiny, risk, or money. Everything identified as a barrier was also presented as an opportunity to accelerate change.

For example, funding can feel like an old fashioned scramble that happened outside a church on a wedding day. Yet, if instead of dedicating resources to chasing, picking up then spending lots
of individual pennies, you will receive the same amount of money in a single sum so you can get on with doing – there would be efficiencies everywhere.

We also analysed how all these are linked. There’s a section in Plan 24
30 called ‘meeting in the middle’ that makes clear how they are both
systemic barriers and opportunities, identifying how they impact on change. Through collaboration we will seek solutions – Plan 24-30 is not a case of one person waving a magic wand, it will take all of us.

SW: What do you think is the single most important action or activity to create the required change that has been identified?

FD: My priority is - and always has been - very much children and young people, families and care experienced adults. What would make the biggest difference to their lives is listening. If you and I are listening to one another with respect, intent to understand and then we act as a result, then things will change. So by listening to children, families, care experienced adults and acting in their best interests, somebody will be working for them and not for the system, resulting in better lives. For that to happen, trusting relationships need to be developed, with love and respect.

It should be simple but it's not, in part because there's not enough resources to dedicate the time needed to develop meaningful relationships and to build that trust. So the workforce feel they're not always equipped to make decisions and that they carry a lot of the risk in making the wrong decision.

Listening is at the heart of the promise and it is a great point to start - but none of the work is quite as straightforward as that.

SW: You began working on the Independent Care Review in 2017, and the plan will run through until 2030. When working on this long-term plan, what helps you to stay focused on the vision first set out in the Independent Care Review? 

FD: This is the most important thing I have ever been asked to do in my life. It comes with the greatest level of responsibility, and I take that seriously.

I am absolutely determined. This is not just a job. When Scotland keeps the promise, there will be generations of children and families who never come anywhere near the care system because our approach to whole-family support is so good and so non-stigmatising that families get it when they need it and it helps them thrive.

And for children who do come into the care of the state - and there will always be children who will need to be looked after outside their family - they will get the most loving and nurturing childhood possible, they will stay with their brothers and sisters wherever safe to do so, and continue their relationships with their families if possible. They will grow up loved, safe and respected and go on to be happy, healthy adults, who can rely on the state to be a good parent to them for all their days.

That is worth focusing on. Through the Independent Care Review, Scotland's children, young people, families, and care experienced adults shared their stories to help make sure that Scotland could make the promise. And I made the promise too. So it's mine to keep in the same way as it's everyone else's to keep.

Fiona Duncan will co-chair day two of Children in Scotland’s Annual Conference on 28-29 May 2025, and had this to say about the event: 

Find more Annual Conference information here.

And to find out more about the promise, click here. 

 

 

About the Author

Fiona Duncan is the Independent Strategic Advisor on the promise

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Insight magazine, Issue 7

The latest issue of our biannual member magazine, Insight, is out now

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Annual Conference 2025

Making Space for Voices: Join our Annual Conference in Glasgow on 28 and 29 May 2025

Find out more

Keeping The Promise in 2025

Simon Massey is Head of Engagement & Learning at Children in Scotland

Click here for more

The Month of the Military Child: what we can learn from military children

1 Apr 2025

Ahead of Month of the Military Child, Children in Scotland’s Head of Services Billy Anderson discusses the resilience displayed by military children and the lessons we can learn from them.  

Being asked to write about the strengths of any child is always a privilege. It is a three line whip that cracks the pause button on constant analysis of barriers, challenges and injustices. In the Month of the Military Child 2025, Forces Children Scotland are asking all of us to do just that by celebrating the remarkable positivity, bravery, courage and adaptability that this particular group of children show every day. 

I believe that military children have developed extraordinary strengths as a result of their unique experiences and those strengths need to be recognised as a shining example of that thing we call ‘resilience’. 

Resilience is a term often thrown around as something that we need to develop as human beings. I don’t like it when these demands are made of children who are still very much making sense of the world and their place in it. In fact, those children that we demand to ‘build some resilience’ are usually the most resilient of all of us. Their lives have been imposed on them to a  degree where every day they live, think and operate in a state of resilience. This can be draining and exhausting, to a point where the constant demand on the resilience reservoir makes the walls crumble. We usually call this weakening of the walls ‘vulnerability’. The two terms are not as oppositional as you may think, they are actually symbiotic and often exist within the same space, within the same child. 

To put this in the context of military children, we need to think about ‘Mobility’ where a military family relocates from one place to another, resulting in moving  schools for the child or young person either within the UK or a different country. We need to also think about ‘Deployment’ where a family member is away from home for a long period of time carrying out military duties. Both of these features of miliary family life generate equal amounts of vulnerability and resilience. They are essentially times of frequent change that are layered across their young lives with interrupted learning and relationships, increased responsibilities and cultural differences to navigate and increased isolation leading to decreased feelings of belonging.  

For these particular children and their lives of constant change and transition, we need to recognise and celebrate the unique strengths that are developed. It would be far too easy to criticise the lifestyle and miss the positive attributes that it enables. Since the age of 18, I have moved home around 22 times. I am not part of a military family but I can reflect on the positive impacts on my own children and try to extend that to the military child’s mindset: 

  • Home is where the heart is – No matter where we live, we are together and my children value family over and above bricks and mortar. 
  • The world is a bigger place than just ‘home’ – My children have a wider world view on culture and global issues. 
  • Relationships are transient, friendships are forever – Recognising this early has helped my children get the most out of relationships with people in the moment. Friendships are different and people can and will keep in touch over distance and time. 
  • There’s a first time for everything – Having confidence to try new things and not worry about the ‘what ifs’. Being present in the moment and experiencing new things with reduced fear. 
  • Embracing change – seeing change as an adventure and not as a threat. My children pursue change as a familiar state of being and one that can present opportunities. 

Some personal reflections on the qualities I have seen demonstrated by my own children who have a definite strength of character rooted in change and transitions. For military children, I’m sure that many of these strengths are amplified tenfold. The positivity, bravery, courage and adaptability that are the building blocks of that thing we call resilience are embodied by military children and we need to be aware of this, understand it and empathise with it. Make it your goal this month to find out more about military children and specifically hear their voices, experiences and stories. This way, we can make sure that they are seen and supported in a way that keeps the balance between vulnerability and resilience in harmonious check. 

Military children have the same rights as all children. Within these rights they may at times have the right to additional support for learning in the short, medium or long term as their family circumstances may dictate a little bit of extra help to access their education. Our Children in Scotland Services can help! 

My Rights, My Say – A partnership that supports children aged 12 – 15 with additional support needs to have their voices, views and experiences heard in processes that impact on their education. 

Enquire – The national information and advice service for parents, carers & professionals on additional support for learning with a comprehensive website packed full of resources and a dedicated helpline. 

REACH – Enquire’s child-centred and targeted website full of information and resources on children’s rights and inclusion. Check out the REACH TikTok channel too for some fab content. 

Resolve – Scotland’s largest National independent mediation service for parents and carers that support the resolution of conflict between families and schools at the earliest stage possible. 

So, I think there is a lot that we can learn from these exceptional children who deserve to be celebrated not just this month, but in all of our considerations from this point on. How are we including their views and experiences in our transition processes for all children and young people? They appear to me to be experts in this field…now that would be a pretty cool way to use and share those strengths….just a thought! 

If you would like to learn more about the Month of the Military Child, head to Forces Children Scotland. 

About the Author

Billy Anderson is Head of Services at Children in Scotland

Click here for more

Keeping The Promise in 2025

Simon Massey is Head of Engagement & Learning at Children in Scotland

Click here for more

Annual Conference 2025

Making Space for Voices: Join our Annual Conference in Glasgow on 28 and 29 May 2025

Find out more

The role of enrichment on improving school attendance

26 Mar 2025

Rachael Powell, Public Affairs and Policy Assistant at the Centre for Young Lives, discusses new research which shows how enrichment activities benefit young people’s mental and physical health, school attendance and help to foster positive relationships. 

What motivates a child or young person to go to school? With too many children missing out on their education, and those who do attend often feeling disengaged, we need to consider how we can inspire students to look forward to school.

Recent research by the Centre for Young Lives, commissioned by The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and National Citizen Service (NCS) Trust, reveals that enrichment activities can transform school into a place where children want to be and benefit from. Our case studies show a direct link between enrichment and improved attendance, particularly for children and young people who face poverty.

Unsurprisingly, many children and young people we spoke with described enrichment activities as the most exciting part of their week. One young person told us, “I feel different on club days cos I’m looking forward to it. If there’s no club, it’s an average day.”

Enrichment activities, including sports, arts clubs, volunteering, social action and adventures away from home offer students something fun and exciting to look forward to, away from sitting in a classroom. They have been shown to have a positive impact on mental and physical health, wellbeing, positive relationships, learning and development, confidence, and a sense of belonging. Not only are these impacts valuable in themselves, they are also proven to be associated with higher school attendance.

This is especially true for disadvantaged children and young people. Many families struggle to afford extracurricular trips and outings, which means these children miss out on valuable enrichment activities. With a strong association between poverty and school absence, many schools and enrichment providers highlighted to us how these activities can improve attendance for students living in poverty.

Enrichment activities offer a space to foster positive relationships between pupils and teachers, which is associated with a better school experience and improved behaviour. As a result of the enrichment activities, staff at Unity City Academy in Middlesbrough told us that there was a shift in culture and improved relationships between staff and pupils, who were able to see each other in a new light. One staff member said, “Enrichment lets staff see something else in students that they don’t see in the day,” and another said, “Put them in an [enrichment] environment or leadership programme, they’re different students.”

Not only did the enrichment programme anecdotally improve school attendance and reduce rates of exclusions, but the young people felt an improved attitude to school and teachers. One young person said, “When you do enrichment with teachers you build up that connection, that bond,” and another felt their needs were met better, “You’re not sat down like in school, you can talk and move around, which is good if you got ADHD.”

Unity City Academy was just one example of schools and enrichment providers we spoke to who found that enrichment can have positive impacts on students’ attendance, relationships with teachers, and overall wellbeing and development. Many schools are deliberately using enrichment to boost attendance, such as by setting the expectation that good attendance will be rewarded with enrichment activities, holding activities on days with typically lower attendance, or requiring 100% attendance to access a youth centre’s activities.

Along with many other tools that schools need to boost attendance and improve children and young people’s wellbeing, enrichment is key to making children excited about coming to school. Many young people take great joy and many skills from enrichment activities, as well as building relationships and better wellbeing that formal education may not otherwise offer.

We know that many children find school to be a difficult or stressful place to be or feel as though their needs are not met. Some become more disengaged with their learning as it becomes focused more on test results and tick-boxing. By giving children and young people opportunities to explore new opportunities that may not otherwise have been offered to them, school can become a beacon of learning, development, and positive relationships – in short, a place where every child wants to be.

Click here to read the report ‘Beyond the classroom: The role of enrichment in tackling the school absence crisis’

 

About the Author

Rachael Powell is Public Affairs Assistant at the Centre for Young Lives

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Beyond the classroom

Read the new report by the Centre for Young Lives, commissioned by NCS Trust and The Duke of Edinburgh's Award

Click here for more

Our services

We offer a range of services that provide support, advice and representation for children and families

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Annual Conference 2025

Making Space for Voices: Join our Annual Conference in Glasgow on 28 and 29 May 2025

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A vision for a fully inclusive Scotland

Member blog

26 Mar 2025

In light of the recent Additional Support for Learning report published by Audit Scotland, Celine Sinclair, Chief Executive of The Yard, discusses the importance of providing inclusive education where children with disabilities and their families have an equal chance to flourish.

At just five years old, Rio was struggling in primary one and her mum, Cheryl, was regularly called to school to collect her. Every morning, she had a sore tummy and, when she got to school, she was lashing out, throwing chairs and hurting others. The school and Cheryl didn’t know what to do and put her on a part-time timetable.

Fortunately, Rio’s school was already working in partnership with The Yard and through support within the school and attending The Yard at weekends, Rio’s focus and behaviour have improved immensely. She’s now finishing primary two back at school full time and is learning.

Audit Scotland’s recent damning report into the state of education for Scotland’s children with additional support for learning needs didn’t come as a shock to us at The Yard. Day in, day out, we work with children who are really struggling in mainstream schools but are flourishing at The Yard.

The Yard’s vision is a fully inclusive Scotland where disabled children and their families have equal opportunity to thrive. The presumption to mainstream, which means that 97% of all pupils attend mainstream schools and parents have the choice to send their child to their local school, is key to that.

But inclusion isn’t just giving a child with a disability the right to attend a mainstream school, it’s also providing them with a full education that meets their needs, supporting their social skills and enabling them to develop alongside their peers. It’s about setting them up for a successful adulthood, teaching them the skills to thrive throughout their life.

That’s what we do so well at The Yard. At The Yard everybody and nobody is different. Rio didn’t need a diagnosis to benefit from The Yard, we’re there for any child at the point of need. The impact of coming to The Yard is immense, improving social skills, confidence, fine and gross motor skills, creative and critical thinking.

That’s why The Yard runs a school’s service. We work in partnership with both special needs and mainstream schools to offer weekly sessions outside of the classroom at The Yard in Edinburgh, Dundee, and soon Glasgow. Schools tell us that children are more confident, have better self-esteem, are less isolated, learn new skills, make new friends, are happier and are more independent. The teachers or learning support assistants who attend with the pupils also say they are less stressed.

Sadly, we know that for growing numbers of children, school has become too much. That’s one of the reason’s we’re playing a leading role in the Edinburgh Disability and Neurodiversity (EDAN) Hub, which launched last year in partnership with the NHS, council and a range of other charities. Families can bring a child who’s not attending school along to the EDAN Hub and get advice and information on how to support them, while the child gets to play with our play team and crucially gets to build friendships with other children who are not in school. It’s early days for this project, but the plan is it will enable children to re-engage in their education.

The Yard is growing to meet ever increasing need – membership of The Yard has grown over 60% since the start of 2022.  We are currently renovating the Yard Dundee and our new Yard Glasgow centre. Both will be reopening later this year with the ability to support schools and pupils in their local area.

But our centres can reach only a fraction of the 40% of pupils who are receiving Additional Support for Learning. That’s why we’re also developing a digital training programme, so we can reach out to schools, out-of-school care providers, and sports and leisure providers to help everyone deliver inclusive services to all children.

The old adage “it takes a village to raise a child” has never been more true. The Yard, and other third sector organisations are an essential part of the solution to the challenges facing inclusive education. We are willing and able to work alongside the Scottish Government, local authorities, schools and others to turn this issue around. Together, we know we can create a fully inclusive Scotland where disabled children, young people and their whole families enjoy equal opportunities to thrive.

'Dig Deep for The Yard': The Yard are looking for help to raise the final £300,000 to complete the renovation of its Mid Craigie home. Find out more ->

 

 

 

About the Author

Celine Sinclair is Chief Executive of The Yard

Meet our team

'Dig Deep for the Yard'

Help the Yard Dundee raise the final £300,000 to complete the renovation of its Mid Craigie home.

Meet our team

Putting a spotlight on babies' 'voices'

David Mackay is Head of Policy, Projects and Participation at Children in Scotland

Meet our team

Open Kindergarten project - the importance of holistic, person-centred support for parents and care

Amy Woodhouse is Chief Executive of Parenting across Scotland, a project partner of the Open Kindergarten project

Click here for more

Celebrating Connection and Community

Victoria Galloway is Learning and Development Manager at Befriending Networks.

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We must delay making alcohol-free childhoods a reality

Amy Smith, Senior Coordinator (Policy) at Alcohol Focus Scotland

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Making brave choices to keep the promise

Paul Henderson is Project Worker at Harmeny

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Keeping children safe

Simon Massey, Head of Engagement & Learning at Children in Scotland

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Today a 'quiet' childcare revolution is taking place

Douglas Guest is Development Manager - The Promise at Circle

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Attending our annual conference: a young person’s guide

18 Mar 2025

A few months from now - or in 72 days if you’re counting - Children in Scotland will hold its Annual Conference at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Glasgow.

Changing our World, our children and young people’s advisory group, play a critical role in the delivery of the conference from co-chairing the two-day event, to selecting workshops for the programme, and collaborating with us on the conference messaging.

During a recent Changing our World session, we discussed the importance of creating accessible and informative communications that supported our attendees to feel confident and empowered to attend the conference.

We know that many of you will be ‘seasoned’ conference attendees and know your ‘plenary’ from your ‘break-out’, but for those of us who are new to this world or attend less frequently, Changing our World have created a young person’s guide to answer all the burning questions you may have before the big event.

What to expect

Members of Changing our World discussed how daunting it can be when first arriving at a conference, whether it’s your first time or your fortieth. To help build confidence, they highlighted the importance of planning ahead and knowing what to expect at the event.

Here are a few ways that you can feel prepared before the event:

  • Get to know the programme which consists of inspiring keynotes, workshops, networking opportunities and an interactive panel
  • Learn more about the people that will be speaking at the event by visiting our digital speakers’ area
  • Complete the delegate registration form so that we can prepare for all your needs
  • Our digital conference programme will be shared with all attendees before the event and will keep you right on where you need to be and when.

Accessibility

Changing our World members emphasised the importance of accessibility. This has been a key consideration in planning, from picking a venue, to creating our programme, and developing our communications. We work hard to make the conference as accessible and inclusive as possible and with the often challenging and difficult topics that will be addressed, we are also prioritising self-care this year.

Here’s a few things to look out for:

  • Find out about accessing the venue on their website
  • Take a pause in our quiet room, which delegates can access throughout the day
  • Speak to one of our lovely team members, they are always happy to help and will be easily located at our conference welcome desk
  • Know that it’s okay to step out of workshops and presentations if you need some space
  • Make use of the green space located 10-minute walk away at Braid Park.

Getting to the venue

Have you had that feeling of arriving off a bus or train into a new city and not being sure what direction to take next? Changing our World members stressed the importance of feeling confident about getting to the venue and finding your way around once there.

You can find out more about getting to the venue on the DoubleTree by Hilton website.

Map of Glasgow showing how to get to the conference venue (DoubleTree Hotel, Glasgow Central) from Central Station, Queen Street Station and Buchanan Bus Station.

Looking forward to the event

Group members shared some of their own highlights from attending past Annual Conferences. They enjoyed attending the keynote addresses, especially when they had met or spoken to the speakers beforehand, they loved the interactive sessions including the workshops and panels, and they liked exploring the exhibition halls and sampling some of the goodies offered by our exhibitors.

While there is much work to be done during the two-day event, we hope you leave feeling inspired, energised and part of a fantastic community.

Finally...

The food! An important part of any conference, Changing our World members wanted you to know that we will be catering for all dietaries - please tell us your requirements when completing your registration form.

With Changing our World’s passion for sustainability, it has been an increasingly important consideration during our planning. For this reason, our catering offer will be 100% plant-based and vegetarian – we can’t wait to see what culinary delights are on offer!

To book your place please visit our conference hub

Annual Conference 2025

Making Space for Voices: Join our Annual Conference in Glasgow on 28 and 29 May 2025

Find out more

Changing our World

Learn more about our children and young person's advisory group, Changing our World

Find out more

Youth Voice Network for Scotland Meet Alison Thewliss

10 Mar 2025

“Welcome to your vote week” is the Electoral Commission’s annual awareness-raising week aimed at supporting young people to develop the knowledge and confidence they need to cast their vote and discover other ways to get involved in democracy. The theme for 2025 is “Get informed and get involved”.

In the run-up to the week, the Youth Voice Network for Scotland met with the former MP for Glasgow Central, Alison Thewliss, to ask her about her experiences as an elected representative.

White text on a pink backgroudnd reads "never think that things or opportunities are closed off to you - go for it!'

Question: Please tell us a bit about yourself.

I became interested in politics when I was younger, before there was a Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Parliament was set up when I was in 6th Year at school. This felt like an exciting and interesting time to get involved, and tied into my interest in modern studies. I have always been interested in changing things and addressing injustice. For example, a lot of my early focus was in health inequalities, especially in Glasgow. This continues to be a big interest for me. I then joined my party and didn’t look back.

Question: Do you feel democracy in Scotland is different to democracy in the UK generally and why?

There are similarities and differences between the UK and Scotland.  Both have representatives, ranging from MPs to councillors, who all engage with people in the same way across the UK.

The Scottish Parliament provides an additional space for people’s voices to be heard through the list system of MSPs. It allows for an extra number of voices to be heard in the system and more variety of political parties to be involved.

In my experience, there is a closeness in Scotland that allows people to engage with the Scottish Parliament, contact them and visit Holyrood very easily, making it more accessible. While London feels very distant for those who want to engage.

Question: How and why did you become an MP, and if you could go back and change her career path what would she change?

When I was growing up I didn’t expect to be an MP! My family was interested in the news, but not interested in politics. I was always interested in current issues and wanting to change things. I joined my party and helped by delivering leaflets, talking to people, listening to others’ views at party conferences. I was elected as a councillor for Glasgow Council. I loved being a councillor and found it rewarding to work with the community and be able to solve or help with issues people were facing. Some issues were easy to solve, while others were more challenging.

After the Referendum in 2014, the SNP started looking for candidates to stand for SNP at the UK Parliament elections. After nine years working as a councillor, I decided I wanted to be tested and applied, although I was not expecting to become an MP. I was chosen after an application process by the SNP.

Working in UK Parliament was an out-of-body experience that I was not expecting. It was an honour and a privilege to be there to represent people and their communities.

Although I didn’t plan for it, it is still good to have an idea of what you want to do and look for opportunities as they come. Never think that things or opportunities are closed off to you – go for it!

Question: If an elected official’s views on a policy or a vote disagreed with the stance of their party, what would they do about it and what is the process?

When you apply to be a candidate, this is often one of the questions you will be asked: will you support your party or the community you represent?  This can be really challenging, as there may be an issue that your party is firm on, but your constituency feels differently. This can be a hard decision for MPs.

It comes down to making a choice – either you go against your party and face consequences, like having to resign or leave the party, or you stand by the party.

When I have been in this position, I considered how to influence or change parts of the policy to align with my views or those of my constituents, and see if there was something we could do.  However, this is not always possible.

Question: How you would tackle misinformation about politics – is there anything you have done or will you do any campaigns?

Social media and its role in sharing misinformation is challenging. Misinformation is a really toxic thing in politics. What I say is my own personal thoughts and views, and others might differ from me. It is important to listen to other people’s views. I was always careful to be factual and truthful in Parliament and if I was wrong or made a mistake, I made efforts to correct it.

If people lose trust in politicians, it can open the door to extremism and to people who do not care about facts.

I have been involved in sharing leaflets to spread information. Information and facts can be spun, it is important that everyone should be able to have honest discussion.

I think there is a need for regulation of social media, as misinformation is dangerous. Currently the Welsh Parliament are debating a bill to stop lying in politics.

Question: How did you deal with the atmosphere of parliament – the banging on the tables, other parities making loud noises and being disruptive?

The atmosphere is really hard, and is designed to throw you off. It was a wall of noise. It is encouraged through the culture and atmosphere of the Parliament. The speaker and house authorities have the power to calm down some of the worst behaviour. The behaviour could also be misogynistic and shouldn’t be tolerated. Some look to modernise parliament and decision-makers are looking to change this behaviour.  It makes politics look like it is just men shouting at each other.

Question: What was your experience of being a woman in parliament, did you ever face discrimination due to being a woman?

It could feel like a male or macho atmosphere. You cannot see yourself in the statues and artwork in Parliament. The atmosphere can be patronising, either ageist or misogynistic.

However, I wouldn’t want this to put people off, there are also a lot of supportive men and women MPs who are there for each other across parties.

In particular, there are debates taking place in Westminster Hall that  can be really insightful; hearing other people’s views on issues and experience, and finding common ground on others.

Parliament is not designed for women, it is not family friendly and does not have enough toilets. The Scottish Parliament building is much more practical!

Although Westminster has a nursery, it is for children that live in London or close by, my children lived in Glasgow. This has a massive impact on accessibility. It impacts who gives evidence and the range of voices being heard. It is too far for people to travel down all the time for early morning sessions. Through research they have found evidence given is overwhelmingly male.

How did you make a subject, topic of discussion or policy interesting to the audience/parliament/government? Especially if it is not an exciting or passionate topic.

There are a lot of issues that can be very dry or very niche in Parliament. I would try and keep my speech short, rather than get too detailed, which is easy to do with a niche topic with lots of technical or legislative information. This makes the issue less accessible to those listening.

One way to engage people on the topic is to link it to real people and make it relatable. For example, for one policy, I linked every amendment to a real person from my constituency and their story. This showed the listener the impact of the amendment/policy.

Question: How did you go about campaigning to become an MP? What was the process and what did you have to do?

Most parties have an application process to become a candidate for their party. You get asked why you want to be a candidate, what you want to do as a candidate. Sometimes there are exercises given to show your ability.

For my party, there is a Ballot of Members, so constituency members decide on the candidates, and this happens each time. Different parties will approach this differently.

Campaigning itself involves a lot behind the scenes, and I had a whole team supporting me. With social media, there is a lot more targeted advertising, social media posts and videos.

But there is also still a lot of traditional campaigning, including knocking on doors and giving out leaflets. It was important for me to go to all the different communities and listen to people, even if they had different views and wouldn’t be voting for you. This shouldn’t just happen during election time, you should be present all year round. Other campaigning includes targeted letters, checking in with people, help with postal voting, checking if they need a lift to the polling station. I was very hands-on in my campaigning and would encourage others to be.

Question: As an MP, what was your biggest achievement or what you are most proud of?

I am most proud of helping my constituents with a range of different issues such as benefits, housing, immigration – making a big difference to people’s lives.

I am also proud of the stances I took and my campaigning work – for example the two-child benefit cap is still a topic that is talked about due to strong campaigning, and has been kept on the agenda. I am also proud of my work on immigration, being principled and standing against the Rwanda Bill. It is hard to stand up – but I am proud that I did.

I would say to you all that you don’t realise the impact you make when you raise issues with your local representatives – contact your MP!

Welcome to Your Vote Week 2025 is 10th to 16th March 2025. To find out more and see you how can get involved, visit the Electoral Commission website.

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Putting a spotlight on babies’ ‘voices’

Member blog

26 Feb 2025

Landmark conference, The Right Start, delivered by Starcatchers in partnership with Children in Scotland and Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights), will take place in Stirling next Thursday and explore babies, their rights, voice and the arts. Ahead of the conference, our Head of Policy, Projects and Participation, David Mackay, discusses the importance of understanding babies’ experiences and progressing their rights in Scotland.

Anyone who has spent any time in the company of a newborn baby or infant will know that they are born ready to communicate. Whether crying for food, signaling distress or simply wanting to play, babies share this with us by communicating in unique and special ways. Attuning to a baby’s verbal and physical cues, or their ‘voice’, is a vital part of the role of any caregiver – it helps us to understand their needs and support them to thrive. Listening to and responding to babies’ communication is also essential in fulfilling their human rights.

Unfortunately, across society we still struggle to think of babies as rights holders. Perhaps this is because they can’t share their views in the same ways as older children (i.e. it's not as easy to ask them what they are thinking or feeling). Or maybe it’s because they are so reliant on other people (often parents or carers) to have their rights fulfilled. It’s possibly a bit of both. As children’s rights come into sharper focus with the introduction of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into Scottish legislation, it’s really time we tackle this issue.

My daughters were 14 and 16 when the UNCRC Incorporation Act came into force in Scotland last summer. Over the past 8 months, it’s been interesting to reflect on my experiences as a parent of young children. After a decade working on early years policy and projects, my understanding of how babies experience the world around them and communicate is certainly now more heightened.

Thinking back, I remember that before my eldest daughter could speak, we became adept at observing and interpreting her movement, her behaviour and her signals. As she began to talk, one of her first words was ‘more’ or, more accurately, “maawaar”. This word, often delivered in a loud but very cute drawl, was used to demand more stories, more hide and seek, more play, more fun! At times, as a sleep-deprived parent, this was exhausting, but she was telling me what she wanted and needed from me. Play is the main way babies learn and develop, helping them to explore their world and build important relationships. Between birth and the age of three, a baby’s brain develops around one million new neural connections per second. Although this is now a familiar fact to me, it still delights and amazes me every time I hear it.

The new UNCRC legislation in Scotland is already impacting the way we listen to children and young people. Just last week, I read about how a deaf teenager has won a legal case to have a British Sign Language interpreter in her school lessons, supporting her right to education. This is really positive news, but how do we ensure the voices of our youngest children are heard and understood in line with their rights under the UNCRC? This is the focus on an upcoming conference, The Right Start: Babies, their rights, voice and the arts, taking place at The Barracks conference centre in Stirling next week on 6 March.

The conference - a partnership between Starcatchers, Children in Scotland and Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights) - will explore babies’ rights and the vital role of play and the arts in unlocking children’s voices.

The day will explore all things baby – from the importance of baby laughter for development and communication to innovative rights-based approaches being delivered in Early Learning and Childcare settings. We will explore work taking place in Wales and Ireland to embed babies’ rights in education and policy-making, and hear about an exciting new theatre production created for babies under 12 months.

The conference will also help us to consider how we share babies’ experiences of the world around them. If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend reading Together’s State of Children’s Rights Report 2024. The report includes stories from babies and infants told by their parents and carers as they observe and respond to their babies’ everyday behaviour. It’s really very touching but also makes us consider how we might begin to see the world through a baby’s eyes.

I am looking forward to an energising conference next week. Hopefully, it will be a catalyst for progressing babies’ rights here in Scotland and will give us plenty of food for thought about how we can ensure babies’ rights, their ‘voices’ and their experiences are front-and-centre as we develop new policy and services for children and families.

To find out more about The Right Start conference, please visit Starcatchers' website

About the Author

David Mackay is Head of Policy, Projects and Participation at Children in Scotland

Meet our team

Open Kindergarten project - the importance of holistic, person-centred support for parents and care

Amy Woodhouse is Chief Executive of Parenting across Scotland, a project partner of the Open Kindergarten project

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Celebrating Connection and Community

Victoria Galloway is Learning and Development Manager at Befriending Networks.

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We must delay making alcohol-free childhoods a reality

Amy Smith, Senior Coordinator (Policy) at Alcohol Focus Scotland

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Making brave choices to keep the promise

Paul Henderson is Project Worker at Harmeny

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Keeping children safe

Simon Massey, Head of Engagement & Learning at Children in Scotland

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Today a 'quiet' childcare revolution is taking place

Douglas Guest is Development Manager - The Promise at Circle

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Strengthening support for Scotland’s children: What’s new in learning and membership for 2025

25 Feb 2025

Simon Massey, Head of Engagement & Learning at Children in Scotland, discusses some of the upcoming changes to the Children in Scotland Learning Programme and Membership Service, and how continuing to support the children’s sector remains at the core of plans.

March is nearly upon us, and for many this period signals change and renewal – not just with the change of the seasons and the welcome sunshine – but also rolling us towards a new financial year, with new budgets, and new offerings across the sector.

It’s undeniable that financial challenges remain for everyone working with children and young people in Scotland, so here at Children in Scotland, we’ve been thinking about the best ways we can make this ‘new year’ pack the most punch for our members and colleagues seeking learning, development, and engagement opportunities.

 

What’s in store for members

In 2025/26 members will continue to receive a wide range of benefits including our bi-annual member-only publication, Insight, quarterly Voices Forum meetings, input into consultation responses, helping to shape our 2026-31 Manifesto and discounts on various Children in Scotland activities. We hope to see our recently-launched member’s LinkedIn Group grow as the year progresses, providing the opportunity to connect with other members.

We remain committed to supporting as much of the children’s sector as possible, so will be investing in our free offers to the sector, which includes:

  • Membership for organisations with an annual income of under £50,000
  • Member Learning programme events and Voices Forum meetings (free for Members)
  • 11 eLearning modules
  • Participation and Engagement Guidelines (linking to an eLearning module)
  • Learning opportunities via the Open University x Children in Scotland Learning Portal.

Members will continue to get discounts on any of our open Learning Programme events, commissioned training, consultancy, and advertising offerings.

 

Our new Learning Programme

One of the big changes for members this year is our expansion of the Member Learning Programme, which is free for members to access. These events will run more regularly and will be a mix of Children in Scotland expertise and practice-sharing opportunities from our members.

Our wider sector learning programme, which is open to both members (at a discounted rate) and non-members, will also be under development this year. New opportunities will include:

  • An open webinar programme to primarily focus on child protection and UNCRC / participation and engagement
  • Our Annual Conference on 28-29 May, bringing together a wide range of voices from across the sector in its innovative programme
  • A developing eLearning Hub, with three more modules by April, totalling 11 modules
  • Our commissioned training offer.

 

Commissioned training

In response to changing demand, our previously widely-varied webinar programme will from April be focussing on child protection, delivered through our long-running partnership with Barnardo’s, and UNCRC and participation and engagement, using our own staff’s expertise. Instead, these varied topics will be offered through our commissioned training offer – an area of growth for Children in Scotland over recent years. We have learned that organisations want bespoke in-house training so that their staff can have the same learning opportunity and really embed knowledge and skills across the organisation at an affordable per-person cost. This will allow us to tailor our approach to individual needs, while continuing to deliver a high-quality training experience with our expert course leaders.

In the meantime, we’ve still got four more open webinars running until the end of March – including UNCRC, understanding harmful sexual behaviour, children’s rights and child development – as well as our 3-day trauma residential in Stirling. Plus, free Pupil Support Staff events and a meeting of the Suicide Prevention Participation Network.

 

Adapting to better serve the children’s sector

Going into 2025/26, my teams and I have reflected and planned, with a view to refocussing our offering on what has worked best for both the sector and us as an organisation.

I hope you can see that we continue to work hard to support the children’s sector, even though we are having to make the changes I’ve outlined. Despite our prices increasing slightly, they are still so much cheaper than events put on by some of the other providers out there, and every penny that comes into Children in Scotland gets reinvested in the work we do. Your involvement in our activities, helps us continue as an organisation.

If you’re in any doubt about how to access your member benefits, or want to feed back on any ways we can better support you as a valued member, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at membership@childreninscotland.org.uk.

Join us in membership

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Membership Guide 2025-26

Read our handy guide to Children in Scotland membership

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About the author

Simon Massey is Head of Engagement and Learning at Children in Scotland

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Annual Conference 2025 Hub

With illuminating speakers, over 25 workshops and networking opportunities, get exploring our Annual Conference

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Learn with us online and in-person

Browse our range of training and events

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Commissioned training

Do you have specific learning needs that could be met in a tailored way? We can help!

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Learning Pathways

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Keeping The Promise in 2025

Member blog

30 Jan 2025

With 2025 marking the halfway point for The Promise, our Head of Engagement and Learning, Simon Massey, highlights the activities and opportunities to help #KeepthePromise with Children in Scotland throughout this year.

Back in August 2023 I wrote a blog reflecting on how care experienced children and young people had been a thread throughout my career and personal life. I also talked about some of our plans to help #KeepThePromise, work we had been doing since the launch of the Independent Care Review.

Now, almost 18 months later, I’m really pleased (and excited!) to pull together the different strands of work happening now and in the coming months, as well as opportunities for the sector to get involved.

Pupil Support Staff learning programme

Ongoing until May

Funded by The Promise Partnership and developed in partnership with care experienced young people and pupil support staff, the learning programme launched in November 2024 with live events running until May 2025.

Aimed at pupil support staff and free to access, the learning programme consists of:

The Dundee event in November 2024 received great feedback, you can watch a video of the day here.

If you are pupil support staff, please have a look at the programme here and book your free place on one of the events or access one of the eLearning modules (once they have launched). If you know any pupil support staff – please point them in our direction!

Insight: The Promise interviews

March

The next edition of Insight, our bi-annual Member publication, will include interviews with Fiona Duncan, Independent Strategic Advisor of The Promise and the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise, Natalie Don-Innes, as well as a lead topic discussion bringing in the views of our member organisations.

It will explore what has been achieved by The Promise so far and what are the priorities for the next five years and will set us all up for some of the discussions at Children in Scotland’s Annual Conference this May.

There will also be all the usual Insight features including sector news, member voices and key policy and practice issues. It’s free for Members, non-Members can subscribe for £10 for two issues.

More information on Insight, including subscribing and free access to back issues is here.

Member event: Online session with Declan Andrews

April

Shaping our future: Empowering those who are care experienced will provide the chance to learn more about what it’s like to be ‘looked after’ and consider ways to better support care experienced children and young people. Declan will be using his own personal and professional experiences to facilitate the learning and discussions in this online session which is free for members and low-cost for non-members.

Find out more and book on the event here

Annual Conference 2025: Making space for voices

May

This year’s Annual Conference (28 & 29 May, Glasgow) has got a Promise strand in recognition of 2025 being the halfway point of The Promise’s ten-year lifetime. This will include:

  • Fiona Duncan – Co-chair on day two
  • Fraser McKinley, The Promise CEO – keynote on day one
  • Natalie Don-Innes, Minister for Children, Young People & The Promise – keynote on day two
  • Various workshops – practice sharing from organisations at the frontline of delivering services, including the voices of children and young people; both days.
  • Exhibitors from across Scotland (and beyond). Many of them doing direct work with care experienced children, young people and families.

There will, of course, be lots of networking and other keynotes and workshops across both days, plus a panel discussion. They will cover education, UNCRC Incorporation, equality, diversity and inclusion, mental health and stigma from the perspectives of children and young people, parents, carers and families, and professionals.

Visit the conference hub to learn more

Navigate

June

Funded by The Promise Partnership, Navigate is a new project being developed by our Enquire service. It will launch in June, providing a free-to-access digital toolkit focusing on care experienced children and young people’s education rights.

To follow progress on Navigate, sign up to Enquire’s newsletter 

Reach

Ongoing

About the Author

Simon Massey is Head of Engagement and Learning at Children in Scotland

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Pupil Support Staff Learning Programme

An exciting learning opportunity for pupil support staff working across Scotland.

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The Promise

Find out more about the promise Scotland made to care experience children and young people.

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Plan 24-30

Read about Scotland's Road Map to #KeepingthePromise

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Our membership offer

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Vision & values

These guide everything we do - find out what they are

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Our services

We offer a range of services that provide support, advice and representation for children and families

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Reach, part of the Enquire service, provides advice to children and young people about their rights to education and what support is on offer. They have a great section on care experience specifically written for children and young people. You can access it here.

As you can see, there is a massive range of things happening. I really hope you can join us and access some of the advice, learning or development on offer.

Only by coming together, sharing our knowledge and skills and improving our understanding, will we be able to move forward with our commitment to #KeepThePromise to children, young people and families in Scotland.