Youth Summit 2026
Fair Education Youth Summit 2026
Over 180 young people aged 11-21 who have experienced barriers in education gathered in London at the Fair Education Alliance’s Youth Summit 2026 – 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.
“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.”
“There is nothing more powerful than a young person with lived experience speaking out against inequality, against poverty, against educational injustice.”
“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.”
Sessions designed by young people, for young people
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.
The impact of the day
95% of youth delegates said they met someone at the event they’d like to collaborate with to create a fairer education system
91% of attendees said they learnt something new that will help them bring about the change they want to see in education
88% reported developing skills to take on youth leadership roles
87% of young people said that the Youth Summit provided the opportunity to influence decision makers
97% of attendees would recommend attending to a friend
Who was in the room?
This year was our biggest ever Youth Summit, with 180 young people attending, including for the first time, attendees from across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
We wanted to reach as many young people from across our membership as possible, but specifically young people who have faced barriers to a fair education system and those who have never volunteered or taken part in an event like this before. By working with FEA members and key sector stakeholders, we were able to make this event as inclusive as possible to ensure young people too often overlooked by the sector and youth engagement programmes were able to participate.
Over 50% of youth delegates have been eligible for Free School Meals
87% of attendees have faced barriers to their education including being excluded, a young carer, faced bullying, abuse or discrimination, lived in a children’s home, been homeless or arrived into the UK as an asylum seeker.
55% of young people had never taken part in an event like this before
With thanks
The Fair Education Youth Summit 2026 is made possible thanks to the generous support of UBS.