Children and Young People Today: Initial Insights from the WYRED Project

Abstract

The WYRED project has undertaken a number of activities with children and young people in its first six months of operation. These include the development of manifestos, a questionnaire, Delphi activity, a series of dialogues and a slogan competition, in addition to the development of the online platform that will support the research activity and interaction in the project. The European Commission expressed interest in the initial findings of the project, prior to formal reporting, and this briefing paper responds to that request. It is important to recognise that given the nature of the project, this data is preliminary and fragmentary, compared with the scale of the population of children and young people in Europe. These findings are presented as indicators and weak signals which suggest important lines for further investigation. The paper discusses attitudes and engagement, key themes emerging from the activities, aspects which have surprised project workers, and differences between the concerns of stakeholders and participants. Finally, some reflections are offered on the implications of these initial results of WYRED for other projects and agencies working with children and young people.