Youth Steering Group
Impact stories: Thomas
Name: Thomas
Age joined the Youth Steering Group: 16
Home Region: South East (Essex)
Thomas joined the Youth Steering Group in 2024, aged 16. During his time on the Youth Steering Group, he has been involved in many different events, including the Advanced British Standard Youth Consultation with Edge Foundation, the FED meeting with Children's Commissioner, the FED Winter Reception, IncludEd Conference with The Difference, APPG Children's Wellbeing and School Event, Youth APPG, Mental Health Coalition Meeting, the FEA Systems and Place-Based Roundtable, volunteered a the FEA Summit and been a speaker at Edufest.
Why did you join the Youth Steering Group (YSG)?
I joined the Youth Steering Group because I’d already done a lot of work in education and inequity, and I strongly believe in the FEA’s mission and how it goes about things—working together with partners, and pushing for more collaboration between sectors, rather than trying to tackle issues on your own. I’ve done a bit of that kind of work before, both locally and nationally, but the FEA operates on a completely different scale.
With so many members from really different sectors, each bringing something—whether it’s evidence, experience, or a particular reason to care—it shows how well the FEA’s model works. That broad range was a big pull factor for me. I wanted to see how this approach could work in tackling educational inequity.
I was also really interested in the past campaigns they’ve done, like the one around police in schools in London. They’ve always been focused on very topical issues, both then and now. So I was eager to get stuck into that kind of work. More recently, we’ve been working on children’s wellbeing measurement, which some people might not immediately connect with educational equity. But I think one thing the FEA does well is show how everything links back to that.
I also saw how many skills people had gained from being part of the Youth Steering Group. I’d seen people talking about their experiences on LinkedIn or during recruitment, and just how many opportunities they’d had. I wanted to be involved, and I’ve been lucky to do that over the last year.
How have you found being on the Youth Steering Group overall?
I’ve found it informative. My understanding of educational inequity and how we can actually go about solving those problems has deepened so much. I’ve also picked up some key skills—especially around collaboration and communication, and how to share learning effectively.
One conversation I had with Dan and Rachel (FEA Team) stuck with me. We talked about evidence-based learning and how you actually share that learning. It’s something I’ve now taken into other parts of my work. I wouldn’t say it’s a strength of mine yet, but I’m very aware of where my work can improve.
For example, I did a project for two years and realised we hadn’t been outputting anything. We weren’t sharing any data or findings. So those conversations helped me think about how to share what we’ve learned on a wider scale.
More broadly, the whole experience—the people I’ve met, including the FEA team, the other young people, and coalition members—it’s all been incredibly insightful. I’ve honestly loved every second of being part of it.
If you had to pick one thing that's been a highlight of your time on the youth steering group, what would it be?
I’d say one highlight has been the events I’ve gone to where I’ve had the chance to meet FEA coalition members more broadly—like at the Summit, the Place-Based Change events, and other gatherings that were mostly attended by coalition members. It’s been valuable to understand the work they do and become more knowledgeable about the sector as a whole.
Those experiences have helped me build a lot of skills—especially around networking and understanding how different parts of the sector connect. It also gave me a deeper sense of how broad the coalition's work is. We often hear from the same, more vocal members of the FEA coalition, but there are also quieter members doing great work behind the scenes who we don’t hear from as often. So meeting some of them in person and learning about what they do has been interesting.
At the Summit, I can’t even count how many people came up to me and said things like, ‘We should be paying for this,’ or, ‘This is the only free event we go to.’ Some mentioned they'd been to conferences where tickets cost £500, and they were blown away by the quality of what the FEA offered for free.
It drove home just how impactful the FEA’s work is—whether that’s the tools Daniel runs, the 1:1 Youth Engagement support services Becca offers, or support from the Awards team.
Of course, I’ve had so many amazing opportunities through the Youth Steering Group, but getting to meet people who have directly benefited from the work and are genuinely grateful for what the FEA does—that made it feel extra special. You don’t always get that kind of feedback or connection in this kind of work.
What do you think has been the Youth Steering Group’s most impactful activity?
I’d say the Youth Summit. I think the way that we, as the FEA, came together for that was very impactful, and how we all took on different leads and different missions.
You could see the effect it had on the young people, especially with how much representation there was from across the UK. There were so many different sectors, so many different charities, and young people who had probably never been to events like that before. I think we just have to build on that success year on year. You see what the Youth Summit does—not just in terms of upskilling and training, but also in unlocking young people’s skills.
So I’d say that was my personal, overall Youth Steering Group highlight—and I think most people would agree.
What skills do you feel like you've developed during your time on the Youth Steering Group?
I’d say I’ve developed my networking skills. I’ve been to events I would never have had the chance to go to otherwise. Not many young people get to step foot into a private members’ club and meet so many people, or network with MPs, Lords, and Ladies.
I also think the FEA has shifted—not necessarily my vision, because I’ve always known where power lies—but it’s made me think differently about it. A lot of people, especially outside the sectors I’ve worked in before, assume all the power is in Westminster.
But I’ve come to realise through this role that the most impactful work, or the most impactful people, aren’t always MPs or Secretaries of State. It’s often the people leading charities, the ones pushing for real change. That’s been one of the biggest things I’ve learned.
Our Youth Steering Group provides leadership on youth engagement across the Fair Education Alliance. Members are involved in the work across the Alliance, from collective action and policy influencing, to communications, events and support for our award winners.