Gender equality in education and learning: Children's Parliament report

The Children's Theory of Change Model

As highlighted earlier, in a Theory of Change model the start and end points of the discussion are provided. These were reframed in clear language that the children understood.

In the children's versions of the Theory of Change model the starting point (the problem) is defined as follows:

Primary Version

• Girls get treated differently and unfairly because they are girls.
• Sometimes girls feel unsafe.
• Sometimes girls don't get to do the things they want to do, like activities or subjects, because they are girls.

Secondary version

Gender inequality in education and learning

• When girls and young women get treated differently and unfairly because they are girls/young women.
• When girls and young women feel unsafe.
• When girls and young women don't get to do the things they want to do because of their gender.

Then, the end point of the discussion, the long-term goal was defined as follows:

Primary Version

• What we want: When girls are in school they are happy and safe and can take part in all the subjects and activities they want to do.

Secondary version

• What we want: A gender equal education system. When girls and young women are in school or learning they are happy and safe and can take part in all the topics and activities they want to do.

The purpose of the discussions was not to gather evidence that the problem is happening, as multiple pieces of research have already been conducted to confirm this. Instead, we were to work with children and young people to find a pathway to move from the issue to the solution. To do this, we laid out four prompt questions, to move us from the problem to the end point goal, simplified from the adult Theory of Change model. These were:

• Who should be involved in the changes we want to make?
• Where do we start if we want to change things?
• What do we need to do to change things… activities, ideas, and actions?
• How would we know we are making a difference for girls and young women?