The (late) Breakfast Society - Latest Comments in The Pathway to Participation

Re: The Pathway to Participation

masyomo — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:47:52 -0000

Thanks Adam - really useful thoughts there & definitely lots of opportunities to delve deeper into the different stages, entry point and exit points too (or places at which peoples involvement/participation plateaus). Will come back to this soon and see if I can expand a bit further on it.

Re: The Pathway to Participation

Adam — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:37:24 -0000

Great start! Its excellent to see other folks working on expanding Hart's Ladder - while that's a useful tool, its not the "be all/end all" for planning. One of the ways that I prompt that expansion is by working with activity planners to expand their visions for who, where and why youth participate - not simply *how*. Using your example to demonstrate, here's how I would push thinking with someone who told me this is how they'd like youth to progress through their activity:

* Taking part in sports activities
- Which activities?
- Who decides those?
- Why are those choosen?
- What outcomes are expected from the participation of youth in those activities?
- Who decides what those outcomes are?

* Helping run sports activities
- What does "helping" mean?
- What options are there to "helping"?
- Who decides what "helping" means?
- What is the goal of involving youth in "running" these activities?
- Who decides that goal?

* Organising sports activities for the community
- What is the role of adults in this?
- Who decides their role?
- Why?

* Representing young members/advisory role
- What does "representation" mean?
- What's an "advisory" role?
- Why not full membership?
- How is a youth choosen to be a representative?

* Full member of the committee
- What is the ratio of youth and adults on the committee?
- What knowledge do the members of the committee need in order to engage young people as full members?
- What skills do they need?

I might suggest that there are several other potential "entry points" for youth participation in the schema you've presented, e.g.:

- Surveying the community to identify which sporting activities young people want.
* Taking part in sports activities
- Assessing current activities to identify where and how youth want to be involved.
* Helping run sports activities
* Organising sports activities for the community
- Planning, developing and facilitating alternative sporting activities
* Representing young members/advisory role
* Full member of the committee
- Splitting the committee 50/50 between youth and adult members with behavorial expectations that ensure equal treament for youth.

There's a researcher out of the University of Sussex named Michael Fielding who has conducted a great deal of study on student participation in schools. He has an excellent Framework you might find useful that I have posted at http://soundout.org/framework.html

I look forward to reading more great posts from you!

Re: The Pathway to Participation

masyomo — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:58:59 -0000

yes and I forgot to mention in the main article that I think a further benefit to presenting a 'pathway' is that by subsequently allowing young people to progress along it there is a far greater chance that in time they will shape the pathway themselves - therefore supporting the personal development of young people and also developing the ways in which young people are able to participate.

Re: The Pathway to Participation

Tim Davies — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:51:58 -0000

This is a really useful summary...

And it can help in unpacking the 'participation in what...?' question.

'Participation in activity' -> 'Participation in running an activity' -> 'Participation in directing activities' -> 'Participation in running an organisation'.

It would be interesting to explore how this can map onto ideas of developmental pathways...