No pertenecer al estereotipo y ser autónoma, la voz de las rebeldes

Adolescence is conceptualised in one of two ways, either from a sociological viewpoint that suggests young people are a reflection of their peers and environment (Batsleer, 2008; Buckingham, 2008; Holliday et al., 2010) or from a developmental perspective that defines the emotional and physical growth of children into adults (Freeman & Aitken-Rose, 2005; Wyn & Harris, 2004). When

adolescence is viewed positively, it encourages adults to open up more opportunities for young people’s active participation in civic activities (Matthews et al., 1999; Sanders & Munford, 2014; Sukarieh & Tannock, 2011; Wyn & Harris, 2004). The young people in this research believed the way adults viewed them influenced their opportunities to participate. While some respondents felt valued by the council, because their views were listened to and encouraged, others thought their council viewed them as a ‘nuisance’ by giving little attention to their views or ignoring suggestions they made. This was not a static feeling and three of the respondents (Zach, Angela and Anna) described feeling both valued and a ‘nuisance’ depending on what their youth council was doing. Zach describes attendance at Council meetings with some councillors looking bored or angry,

compared with councillors who he believed were genuinely interested in what the youth council was doing. Zach noted that he felt encouraged and supported by those engaged councillors.

22 _{Chapter Six: Section One: young people’s participation in civic activities, page 66} 23 _{Chapter Three: Theory, page 21}

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The Culture of Participation24 _{describes the culture required by an organisation to enable youth}

participation to occur; this includes unfreezing barriers that shape negative adult perceptions, encouraging adults to become change catalysts to role-model change, developing clear internal processes for encouraging change and institutionalising this change into practice (Kirby et al., 2003). To be successful, participation requires a culture that unfreezes people’s attitudes and organisations that create an environment where adults keep an open mind on how they conceptualise or view young people. Likewise, the Culture of Participation suggests that to support and enable youth participation adults need to create an environment where young people are viewed in a positive light. The respondents did not always agree that a positive representation was the most helpful stance. Two of the respondents (Angela and Neil) voiced concern over positively generalising young people, as they felt it gave a skewed perception of young people in the community, meaning

disengaged youth could easily be overlooked. They were concerned the process to get onto a youth council and the consultation processes used, targeted the ‘higher echelon’ of youth and did not provide opportunities to hear an all-inclusive representative youth voice. This generated a sense of responsibility for the respondents who felt their actions shaped adults’ view of them; thereby setting the tone for how communities viewed young people and ultimately impacting on how well civic activities were tailored for this age group.

Five of the respondents felt they were viewed positively by the council because they offered a unique view or opinion to the council that would otherwise be unheard. Nisha described their ability to offer opinions from a different point of view was based on the fact they had a better

understanding of how a policy, such as changes to public transport, would affect young people. Valuing this unique perspective aligns with viewing adolescence from a strength based perspective that considers adolescence as an important stage in the life of a person (Matthews et al., 1999). This positive view suggests to adults that young people are able to offer a point of view adults are either unaware of or do not have any other access to. This is vital when developing a process for young people to contribute and participate in civic activities as it enables adults to recognise the important role young people play in supporting and shaping positive behaviour change (Batsleer, 2008;

Buckingham, 2008). Using strength based approaches also supports participation by reinforcing the need for young people’s involvement in civic activities (Matthews et al., 1999; Sukarieh & Tannock, 2011). Ultimately, this positive view goes some way to reduce one of the barriers cited earlier,25

24 _{Chapter Three: Theory, page 35}

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where adults take-over and provide tokenistic opportunities for young people to participate, instead of recognising the positive and unique perspective that young people have to offer.

The Culture of Participation also suggests that adults should avoid the more harmful practice of negatively generalising young people. There is a danger in generalising young people in a negative light; as the negative behaviour of a few does not suggest how the many behave or react

(Buckingham, 2008; Holliday et al., 2010). Multiplicity is when generalisations are made and the opinions of a group are clumped together, without recognising the uniqueness of each participant (Batsleer, 2008; Buckingham, 2008; Holliday et al., 2010). To avoid multiplicity and to successfully encourage young people’s participation, methods and processes must be tailored to individuals’ strengths and abilities. This supports their active participation and reduces the power imbalances described earlier,26 _{by ensuring everyone feels able to be involved. Six of the seven respondents}

expressed concerns about processes and engagement methods that they felt were time consuming, contained overly heavy content, or focused solely on serious issues, that potentially excluded some of the group, especially younger members, from feeling comfortable participating. Helen described how she thought a heavy or serious topic such as drug use or disaffected youth could make younger members feel awkward and uncomfortable.

When adults view adolescence negatively, there is a risk that young people become disengaged (McGachie & Smith, 2003; Smith et al., 2003). In this research five respondents felt they were a

‘nuisance’ to their council and were viewed negatively. This included respondents who thought their council did not like them, or they were a nuisance and spent money unnecessarily. It should also be noted that three of the respondents described adults as having fluid perceptions of them, ranging from positive to negative, depending on the nature of the activities they are involved in. However far from disengaging them, the respondents felt negative perceptions made them want to work harder and prove they have a positive contribution to make. For Zach, being told he did not have support for an action by his council, prompted him to take independent action, without the backing of the rest of his peer group; while for Emily and Helen, when adults did not allow them to be in charge, it encouraged them to find ways to make their youth council run without the involvement of adults, this included developing direct lines of communication with the main council or starting up their

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own projects without adult support. This is supported by Arnstein’s Empowerment Model,27 _where

empowerment comes from acting independently, rather than participation being led by others.

In summary, while there were times where young people felt they are conceptualised negatively by their council, generally the respondents felt they were viewed positively and were encouraged to participate, to offer a unique youth perspective. In practice, this suggests positioning young people as unique, from a strength based framework, acknowledging each young person has something to offer. This moves away from unhelpful generalisations of young people, such as a multiplicity view that generalises young people, even if this has a positive slant.