Human Rights Day – A Snapshot Survey of Children and Young People in Wales
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Introduction
During December 2024 we asked children and young people how they’d like to learn more about their rights.
The survey was part of an ongoing series of topical questions we ask children and young people monthly to hear their views on a variety of issues, called Monthly Matters. It was shared directly with all schools signed up to our children’s rights schemes for primary and secondary schools, as well as community groups.
As part of the survey pack, children and young people were shown a video introducing the topic, they were asked to take part in a quiz about rights and were then asked how they would like to learn more about their rights e.g. join online sessions, sing songs, take part in rights activities, watch videos. We suggested in our session outline that, following this video, children and young people should have a few minutes to discuss their views with each other before answering the survey. Schools and groups had two options for completing the survey; children and young people could either do it independently, or a teacher or group leader could complete the survey on behalf of the group by answering a different set of questions to give an overview of the discussion.
384 children and young people answered the survey individually. A broad range of ages took part, from children under the age of 7 up to 18-year-olds. We received responses from 12 local authority areas.
Questions were developed by the Commissioner’s experienced staff team based on themes that had emerged from previous engagement exercises with children, young people, and professionals.
Questions for children and young people
Your rights cover all aspects of your life.
Please tell us which of these areas you find interesting, to help us make activities about your rights in the future.
Health (physical and mental health) (95) – 50%
Safety at home, school, and the community (83) – 43%
Having your say/getting your voice heard (82) – 43%
Online safety (76) – 40% Education (74) – 39%
Discrimination and equality (53) – 28%
Rights to use your own language (53) – 28%
Privacy, information, and misinformation (52) – 27%
Other (11) – 6%
How do you want to learn more about your rights?
Activities in class (149) – 42%
Watching videos in class, assembly, or club (147) – 41%
Quizzes (146) – 41% Posters (134) – 38%
Online events (72) – 20%
Monthly Matters (72) – 20%
Class discussions/debates (68) – 19%
Making your own content about rights, like videos (62) – 17%
I’m not interested in this topic (36) – 10%
Other (19) – 5%
How else do you want to learn about your rights?
The highest number of responses related to:
- Arts/drawing and crafts
- Raising awareness within the school
- Posters / Books
- Activities
- Presentations
- Visiting other schools
Questions for Teachers
Where teachers responded on behalf of a group, their answers reflected the answers given by children directly. Teachers were also able to give their own perspective and experiences in the following questions:
Please tell us which of these areas the group found interesting, to help us make activities about rights in the future.
Health (physical and mental health) (7) – 54%
Education (7) – 54%
Online safety (6) – 46%
Discrimination and equality (6) – 46%
Rights to use your own language (6) – 46%
Privacy, information, and misinformation (5) – 39%
Having your say/getting your voice heard (3) – 23%
Safety at home, school, and the community (2) – 15%
How did the group want to learn more about rights?
Activities in class (12) – 71%
Quizzes (8) – 47%
Posters (7) – 41%
Making your own content about rights, like videos (6) – 35%
Watching videos in class, assembly, or club (5) – 29%
Class discussions/debates (5) – 29%
Monthly Matters (3) – 18%
Online events (2) – 12%
I’m not interested in this topic (1) – 6%
Other (1) – 6%
Conclusion
These answers provided an insight to the Commissioner’s team to help with the continuous improvement of our resource offer for children, young people, schools and youth clubs.