Children’s Parliament has developed an innovative survey tool which brings the voice of children and young people to our understanding of their wellbeing.
The theme of wellbeing has taken on significance in Scotland through the development of the policy framework Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC), elements of which are now incorporated into law in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act (2014). The new Act introduces a provision to the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 that places a requirement on Local Authorities to consider children’s wellbeing in exercising functions. The Act also sets out a requirement to report on outcomes for children and young people in terms of their wellbeing.
In considering the requirements of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act (2014) it became clear to Children’s Parliament that there is a need to ensure a fully holistic view of wellbeing and to make certain that children and young people’s lived experience is at the heart of considerations and actions to improve outcomes. However, no tool currently exists to support local authorities and their partners in Community Planning Partnerships to fully gather children and young people’s views on their wellbeing at the community level; in response Children’s Parliament has developed ‘My Life in Scotland’, with funding from Scottish Government’s NYVOSF fund.
Now that the My Life in Scotland tool is validated for measuring subjective wellbeing, Children’s Parliament is looking to deliver a feasibility phase within one local authority before making the tool more widely available. Broader discussions are taking place looking at how it could support colleagues in a range of non-local authority settings to also make use of this unique and additional resource.