Gender equality in education: Scottish Youth Parliament research

Methodology

After initial discussions with Scottish Government colleagues and the Children's Parliament, it was agreed that with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, that SYP would gather data from young people in a virtual format. SYP shared the opportunity with Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs) to participate in a 1:1 interview with SYP's Project Manager. This methodology was chosen as it is a valuable method of gaining insights into people's perceptions, understandings and experiences of a particular issue and can contribute to in-depth data collection. In addition to this, this method provided an opportunity to further probe responses provided. The interviews were recorded with the consent of each participant. This allowed for the rich and comprehensive data to be analysed and explore emerging themes. The interviews were held using Zoom and with the use of a Miro Board which young people could access and write their responses. The Miro Board was devised by the Children's Parliament and was a useful tool in both communicating the structure of this piece of research and gathering responses from young people. (See Miro Board, appendix 1).

In total, 13 interviews were carried out with MSYPs, 8 with young women, 4 with young men and 1 with a participant who identifies as non-binary. Participants were aged between 16 and 21 years old and according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) participants represented ranges from Decile 1-10. One participant interviewed was a Black young person and one was a young Person of Colour.

Ethical issues were considered at the onset of this project. There was an awareness that discussions about gender equality in education, would also include discussions about the wider issue of gender equality in society and therefore had the potential to raise personal and traumatic experiences. Therefore, each participant was given detailed information and a consent form which stressed that at any point during the interview, they could choose to stop and no longer take part. Only when the consent form was signed could each interview take place.

Defining the problem

The Theory of Change model is a methodology for planning, participation, and evaluation that is used to promote social change. The Theory of Change defines long-term goals and then maps backward to identify necessary preconditions.

Three issues:

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.

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.

Working towards change, not gathering evidence of the issues

There is a comprehensive body of evidence around gender equality issues that affect girls and young women in education and wider society. Therefore, the focus of this engagement is on how this change can be achieved. There is a logic to the order of questions considered. The questions asked are:

• 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?