Resource Pack for Professionals

While used in everyday life, the concept of respect is poorly defined and even less well understood from the perspective of children and young people. It is often used in conversations about them whereby respect is something done to children (they need to learn respect) or something they are expected to give (to their elders), rather than something shared with them.

RADICAL (Respect and Disrespect in Children's and Adolescents' Lives) is a participatory rights-based research project. Its aim was to theorise and understand respect from the viewpoint of children and young people, as well as to use this knowledge to enhance children and young people’s own understanding and inform respectful practices towards them. Working with two children and young people’s advisory groups (CYPAGs) over a two-year period, we co-designed and analysed survey data, facilitated dialogue hubs across Northern Ireland and carried out in-depth interviews with those likely to experience respect/disrespect in very particular ways.

This resource pack for professionals and practitioners is our combined effort to share children and young people’s experiences in a meaningful and useful way. The various briefings are grounded in the experiences of over 5,000 children and young people across Northern Ireland. The pack includes research summaries, topic briefings and briefings focused on specific groups of children and young people. It will be of interest to professionals across a range of sectors, including education, youth work, sports, the built environment, social care, policing and justice. While each briefing is standalone, they are best read as a set. Firstly, because there is learning across sectors in the attitudes, behaviours and relationships children define as respectful. Secondly, because the briefings which focus on the specific experiences of children and young people with disabilities, those identifying as LGBTQ and those belonging to racial and ethnic minority groups, draw on data related to their experiences of respect and disrespect in multiple settings – e.g. schools, youth provision, public space. They are a must read for professionals across settings.

Importantly, each briefing draws out what children and young people identify as respectful as well as disrespectful in a range of spaces and places. There is evidence of good practice that can be built upon. As well as including stories, narratives of respect and disrespect, we summarise what respect and disrespect looks like in different settings and for different groups of children and young people, as well as the positive and negative impacts on children and young people in various contexts (e.g. in schools, in youth provision, in sports, etc). We have included some points for reflection at the end of each briefing and hope these are useful starting points for conversation in your organisation/ setting.

Alongside this pack are a range of other resources produced during the project, including two short films and four mini-podcasts co-produced with the CYPAGs. These are freely available on our website (see Audiovisual Resources). The two videos are useful resources to utilise alongside the briefings included in this pack. In one, some of the data is brought to life as children and young people express through colours how being respected and disrespected feels. The other video narrates, in children and young people’s original words, some of the personal stories of disrespect shared with us. There are stories of school, relationships, public spaces and community, representing those of different ages, community and cultural backgrounds, and identities.

We hope the briefings can be used as a resource to start (or continue) the conversation in your organisation/ setting. Combined, they demonstrate that respect manifests in attitudes, actions and behaviours that lead to children and young people feeling seen, valued, cared for and listened to, irrespective of their age or background. The resources clearly reveal that the absence or presence of respect can have profound effects - on engagement and input, well-being and sense of self, confidence, commitment and happiness.

Dr. Siobhán McAlister (on behalf of the RADICAL team)

Centre for Children’s Rights

RADICAL is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number: ES/X007558/1)