Teenagers and Public Space Research

Participant Information Sheet

WHAT IS THE PROJECT?

We know young Scots aged 13-19 often don’t feel free and able to find things to do and be themselves in public space. We also know that young people are more likely to be accused of anti-social behaviour than other groups. Do you want this to change?

A Place in Childhood (APiC) and the UK’s biggest walking and cycling charity (Sustrans) do, and we want to learn from you how to make this happen!

WHAT’S INVOLVED?

Taking place January-March 2022, this project will first of all involve 3 teams from across Scotland creating a young person’s map of North Edinburgh, Denny, and Huntly.

Each project team will have 20-30 members, split across different genders and ages. To make the map, we will go on walks together in January or early February (probably on a weekend day) and ask you to show us what is important about your place, and what could be better for young people. We will then put your experiences and priorities on to a map, and work with you on your local priorities for improvement. If COVID restrictions make it hard for us to meet up, some of this might happen online.

The maps will then be used by Sustrans as part of the projects they have to make change in each local area.

After we’ve made the maps, there will be the opportunity for you to take part in 1-2 additional online workshops. The first will be about helping other members of the local community understand your needs and how young people can be involved in future. The second will be about how young people should be involved across Scotland, and you would get to hear about the work of the other two teams and discuss solutions together!

Taking part in these additional workshops is optional, and we will be looking for representatives for your team at each stage. You will receive £20 per workshop as a Young Consultant if you take part in these.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO PARTICIPATE?

You have the right to be heard on matters that affect you, and to use and gather in public space. This is an opportunity to speak on behalf of the young people of your area and of Scotland.  We’ll also try to make participation as fun and as interactive as possible, and what you produce together – which will have to be OK’d by you all first – will be part of a large project that could make a real difference to your community.

Also, you will gain great experience of what it’s like to be a researcher and how we can have better conversations across generations. Any work you do in this project will be something you can write about on your CV and in applications to college or university.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE PROJECT RESULTS?

A report summarising what we learned from you will be used by Sustrans and the groups in your community to improve walking and cycling opportunities for everyone. We will also share this with you, and there might be some publicity at the end of the project. Nothing will show your name unless you have given us permission to do so.

MORE INFO FOR PARENTS / CARERS:

Ethics:

Completion of a parent/carer/participant consent form is required before participation in any online workshops, but is not required for the initial walking activity. If your child is taking part in the online workshops associated with this research, we will require you to fill out a content survey. This takes 3-5 minutes to complete and is available via a link here. You may contact the project lead below through email or telephone should you have any concerns before, during or after the process of this Project.

This Project follows APiC Ethics and Data Protection Policy, which in turn, follow both legal and advisory frameworks around researching with children and young people. We consider consent to be an ongoing process, and if a participant or yourself withdraws consent at any point we will respect that decision immediately. Please feel free to discuss any concerns you may have with us before or after the process if that would be helpful to you or to your child.

Data Protection:

APiC is the data controller on this project and upholds the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. The main form of data collected will be notes, but there may be instances where speech or video is recorded during online workshops for the sake of disseminating high-quality and appealing outputs. For further details of how your child’s data is processed and stored, you can contact the project lead below.

For Further Information:

Please contact Dr Jenny Wood, Co-director Policy & Research at jenny.wood@aplaceinchildhood.org  or on 07964803787.