Maisie Palmer

Over the last two weeks, myself and my colleagues at Roots have been fortunate enough to spend our Saturday afternoons online with a group of 11 young people. Joining us from different pockets of the UK, with one even checking in with us from the Netherlands, we’ve managed to touch upon the complex themes of identity, community and policy in just under four hours. When we decided to host these focus group sessions, we wanted to get a general feel for how some of the activities we’d planned would play out between teens who had never met before. The level of engagement and critical awareness that we’ve witnessed over this short period of collaboration has filled us with confidence that our programme will spark meaningful discussion not only across socio-economic barriers but also between young people from different regions and countries.

The atmosphere of curiosity and compassion initiated by the participants created a space where everyone had the chance to use their voice and air their opinions. The themes that the group identified as key challenges for young people in today’s society were mental health and climate change. The group spoke with an unreserved openness that we weren’t always expecting, offering up their ideas about reform and action that would help to give the next generation the best possible future. They also spoke freely about their hopes and fears for their own futures, bringing to the surface how the uncertainty of COVID19 and its impact on their education was a growing area of concern. 

As a team, we’ve been reminded how important it is to trust the curiosity of young people and to support them in expressing their feelings around the issues that they care about the most. They have shown us that sometimes all it takes is a reason to come together, and that’s enough to spark connections over lines of division. We’ve left feeling determined that we can re-create this kind of dialogue over an extended period, on a much larger scale and with a greater number of young participants. It seems that our roots are only part of the story, what we can imagine together is where we’ll be turning our focus to next.

In preparation for the launch of our first Educational Exchange in February 2021, The Roots Programme is carrying out some preliminary research in the form of focus groups. This research will help us to shape our programme which aims to address social division amongst young people from different socio-economic backgrounds by bringing them together in virtual forums.

We are looking for 8 participants between the ages of 12 and 16 to take part in our research activities. We are hoping to have a mix of young people from state schools and private schools. Two virtual sessions will take place, the first on Saturday 9th January and the second on Saturday 16th January, between 1:30pm and 2:30pm. The content of the sessions will be based around the topics of identity and the challenges faced by young people in the UK today. 

Please contact us if your child would like to volunteer, along with any other questions, on maisie@rootsprogramme.org and include the below details in your email:

• Your name
• Your child’s name and age 
• The type of school your child attends e.g private, state or grammar/selective school

After expressing your child’s interest in participating, you will be contacted with more specific details about the format and practical requirements of the sessions. Each child will receive a £20 Waterstones voucher after they complete the two sessions as a thank you from the Roots Team for helping us to develop our ideas for the project.