Over 180 young people gather to engage with politicians and learn skills for social action
Over 180 young people aged 11-21 who have experienced barriers in education gathered today in London at the Fair Education Alliance’s annual Youth Summit – a day designed, curated and led by young people determined to reshape the education system.
The free event gave young changemakers from across the UK the chance to gain skills to drive social change and engage directly with policymakers. The FEA’s Youth Steering Group, made up of 14–24-year-olds with diverse lived experience of the English education system, created and led the sessions, ensuring the agenda reflected the issues that matter most to young people themselves.
Attendees had the opportunity to participate in the Votes at 16 Inquiry in-person with Peter Swallow MP and the Schools, Learning and Assessment All-Party Parliamentary Group. Green Party leader Zack Polanski shared the stage with Dylan Law – the party’s 19-year-old candidate for Deputy Mayor of Hackney – for the keynote speech.
Award-winning writer, speaker and creator in neurodivergence Lou Chandler and the Social Market Foundation’s Head of Education and Social Mobility Dani Payne led a workshop on how to create viral social media content for social change. Another session with leading education YouTuber and author Jade Bowler (UnJaded Jade) and FEA member charity The Switch explored how to include social action in your CV.
Young attendees also put their questions directly to representatives from the Department for Education and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in a lively panel discussion – holding policymakers to account on the issues affecting their futures.
The full event programme is available here.
Imanni, member of the Fair Education Alliance Youth Steering Group, said:
“Politics and government can be so invisible to us as young people – decision-makers in education don’t understand what it’s like to be a young person today. Events like the Fair Education Youth Summit are so important as they remind us that we do also have a voice and teach us how we can make it heard.”
Peter Swallow, Labour MP for Bracknell and Chair of the Schools, Learning and Assessment APPG, said at today’s event:
“It's never been a more important time for young people – in terms of the politics that's going on at the moment and how it affects their lives – and that's why it's really important that we are listening to young people as we make those decisions that are going to impact their futures.”
Zack Polanski, member of the London Assembly and leader of the Green Party in England and Wales, said at today’s event:
“There is nothing more powerful than a young person with lived experience speaking out against inequality, against poverty, against educational injustice.”
