SELECT COMMITTEEs
In collaboration with the UK Parliament Select Committee Engagement Team we support Select Committees to engage with young people as part of their evidence gathering. To date, we have supported young people to give evidence on a range of issues from Transport, Diversity, Education and News Literacy.
We supported the committees by recruiting the schools to take part, developing bespoke learning resources, supporting the students and teachers, and aiding with facilitation and technical support.
If you are a teacher and are interested in working with us to support your students to give evidence to a committee then please register your interest here and we will be in touch when an opportunity arises.
Case study: The Petitions Committee inquiry into diversity in the curriculum
In April 2021 we supported 7 schools to engage in listening sessions with the Petitions Committee on diversity in schools. We held three 90 minute sessions, with Primary, Secondary and Sixth Form students in which we supported the students to share their views and experiences on diversity in the curriculum and on issues of diversity and race in the school community more broadly. Each session started with short presentations from the students which then lead to a general Q and A on a range of topics. We invited 3-5 students from each school to take part in the sessions and supported each with a three-hour pack of bespoke resources to support their students to prepare for the sessions.
“Thank you so much .. I wish you could have heard the
students afterwards they were so very switched on and
happy that they got their views across.”
Following these sessions, two of the schools were invited to give evidence directly to members of the Petitions Committee and the Women and Equalities Committee. All of the sessions were very impactful and provided a rare opportunity for students to inform the direction of policymaking at a national level.
"The Politics Project team facilitated a series of incredibly powerful sessions for the Committee, on what is a complex and emotive topic, with sensitivity and skill. The Committee’s understanding of how issues of race and equality are taught about and managed in schools, and its scrutiny of the Government’s position on these issues, have been strengthened as a result. Thank you!"
Stephen Wilson, Senior Petitions Communications and Engagement Manager, House of Commons