The Lundy model of child participation Enabling the meaningful participation of children and young people globally: The Lundy Model | Research | Queen's University Belfast
When planning engagement with children and young people, The Lundy Model is a fantastic tool that’s been in use since 2007. Professor Laura Lundy from Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, explains that in order to truly implement article 12 there are 4 crucial elements required:
- SPACE: Children must be given the opportunity to express a view
- VOICE: Children must be facilitated to express their views
- AUDIENCE: The view must be listened to.
- INFLUENCE: The view must be acted upon, as appropriate.
So, if you’re planning engagement with children and young people, you must be clear on:
- What the audience and influence is beforehand.
- If there is limited scope for audience and influence consider how to increase it,
- If it can’t be increased consider what the purpose of the engagement really is.
Levels of Participation Models
There are a number of models that present child participation in levels, such as Roger Hart’s Ladder of Youth Participation (1992) (link: participation-ladder.pdf), and Phil Tresseder’s Degrees of Participation (1997). (link: Treseder's (1997) Degrees of Participation (Save the Children) | Download Scientific Diagram)
The Commissioner for Children and Young People in Western Australia has published Participation Guidelines that include a useful Levels of Participation Model. participation-guidelines-2021.pdf
Organisations that work with children and young people can use these to identify where their current practices sit, where the aim to be, and how to get there.
We can work with your and organisation! #
If you want support to explore these frameworks and models in detail and work out how to implement them in your context, we’d love to work with you! We can create bespoke workshops for you and your team to achieve your goals of elevating children’s voices, upholding their rights and keeping them safe.
