News

Young People Have a Voice!

15 September 2026

On 15 September, pedagogy students specialising in “Care and Therapy” at the University of Łódź — Wiktoria Martin, Zuzanna Szymańska, Dominika Polityło and Oliwia Kuczyńska — joined Julia Patok and Antonina Łukasik to organise the 1st Democratic Youth Forum at the Faculty of Educational Sciences of the University of Łódź. The students’ work was academically supervised by Dr Anna Jarkiewicz.

Held as part of the Horizon Europe project YOUROPE – “Visionary Roadmaps: Crafting an Inclusive and Participatory European Democracy with Youth and Communities”, the Forum brought together nearly 130 young people, educators, experts, and representatives of local government to discuss the challenges facing education and explore how young people can take a more active role in shaping their schools and communities.

The event opened with a discussion on current challenges in education, bringing together Agata Kobylińska, Plenipotentiary of the Mayor of Łódź for Children and Young People; Maja Włodarczyk, Councillor of the Łódź City Council; Andrzej Śliwerski, psychologist and researcher at the Institute of Psychology of the University of Łódź; Bogumiła Cichacz, Headteacher of Primary School No. 70 in Łódź; and Kacper Trusiński, President of the Student Research Group for Family and Guardianship Law. Their discussion offered different perspectives on the realities and challenges of contemporary education.

The Forum also welcomed representatives of the city and university, including Małgorzata Moskwa-Wodnicka, Deputy Mayor of Łódź; Jarosław Pawlicki, Director of the Department of Education at the Łódź City Office; Joanna Miniszewska, PhD, Associate Professor at the University of Łódź, Vice-Dean for Student Affairs and Academic Programmes; and Mariusz Granosik, PhD, Associate Professor at the University of Łódź, Head of the YOUROPE project.

At the heart of the Forum, however, were the secondary school students who took part in large numbers alongside their teachers. Rather than simply discussing education as a topic, the young participants were invited to identify what they felt should change and work together to develop concrete projects that could improve their own schools.

The collaborative process culminated in a democratic vote, through which participants selected the proposal they wanted to support. The winning project, “Wrzuć na luz” (“Take It Easy”), was developed by students from XXXIII Secondary School in Łódź. The project will now move beyond the Forum, with the university students continuing to work with the young people to explore how their proposed changes can be implemented in their school.

This process reflects the approach at the heart of YOUROPE: creating spaces where young people are not only consulted about issues that affect them, but are given opportunities to identify challenges, develop solutions, make decisions, and take part in putting those decisions into practice. The Democratic Youth Forum provided a practical space for young people to experience these principles through collaboration and democratic decision-making.

For the organisers, the Forum was also an opportunity to connect university students’ academic and practical experience with the perspectives of secondary school students, educators, experts, and local decision-makers. The event demonstrated how dialogue between these groups can create space for young people’s ideas to be heard and translated into concrete action.

The 1st Democratic Youth Forum brought together participants from XXXIII Secondary School in Łódź, the Secondary School in Wiśniowa Góra, and III Secondary School in Bełchatów, whose ideas and engagement were central to the event. Their participation marked an important first step in a process that will continue as the winning project is developed and implemented in the months ahead.

Photos: Szymon Rusek

Framework and Toolkit

Youth-informed theory and a practical EU Citizenship Toolkit
 
Where the road leads: a grassroots-informed theoretical framework on European citizenship and democracy, built from the ground up on youth perspectives, and a youth-centred EU Citizenship Toolkit that turns these insights into practical resources for educators, youth workers and young people themselves. Results are expected in 2027.
Coming Soon

Main Survey

Measuring what matters, in language grounded in youth voices
 
The findings of the exploratory survey feed directly into the design of the main survey: a larger instrument grounded in young people’s own language, experiences and priorities. Instead of asking young people to respond to researchers’ categories, the main survey measures what matters in terms young people themselves have shaped.
Coming Soon

Exploratory Youth Survey

Learning from young people in their own words
 
Rather than starting from predefined assumptions, YOUROPE wants to learn directly from young people in their own words. This exploratory survey invites young people across Europe to share their views and experiences on citizenship, democracy, participation, inclusion and digital life. It is anonymous, voluntary, available in nine languages, and takes 10–15 minutes: an important first step in a co-creation process that places youth voices at the centre of the research.
JISC Survey

Research Foundations

Policy analysis and systematic literature review

Every roadmap needs a starting point. WP3 began with two parallel strands of research: a policy analysis mapping how youth citizenship and democratic participation are addressed across Europe, and a systematic literature review of what existing research tells us about young people, democracy and participation. Together, these form the evidence base of WP3 and are published as part of the WP3 report.
WP3 report

Dialogue Map

Turning findings into conversations on the dimensions of democratic life 
 
Building on the research findings, the team in Augsburg developed the Dialogue Map: a tool that turns what we learned into conversations. It is organised around key dimensions of democratic life, from youth voice and European citizenship to participation, inclusion and digital citizenship, each with a key question and discussion prompts to open up dialogue with and among young people.
Dialogue Map

D6 · Dimension

Digital Citizenship

Digital environments as civic and political space

KEY QUESTION
What does it mean to be a citizen online?
DISCUSSION PROMPTS
  • What do you do online that could influence others or public issues — even in small ways?
  • Do you feel that what you see online is shaped by algorithms or platforms? Can you give an example?
  • Where online do you feel like an active citizen — and where do you feel like just a user?

D5 · Dimension

Inclusion and Justice

Structural inequalities and intersecting identities

KEY QUESTION

Do you think everyone has equal opportunities to participate in society?

DISCUSSION PROMPTS
  • Who is often excluded or overlooked in your community — and why do you think that is?
  • What rules, habits, or systems make participation harder for some people than others?
  • What would need to change for participation to be fairer and more inclusive?

D4 · Dimension

Participation and Power

Procedural vs. substantive participation

KEY QUESTION

When does participation actually make a difference in your life?

DISCUSSION PROMPTS
  • Describe a situation where you participated — in a council, survey, protest, vote — but it led to no change. What did that feel like?
  • Where do you feel you genuinely have influence? At school, at home, online, in your city?
  • What is the difference between being asked for your opinion and actually having a say?

D3 · Dimension

European Citizenship

Europe as lived democratic space

KEY QUESTION
What does ‘Europe’ mean to you in your everyday life?
DISCUSSION PROMPTS
  • What does 'European Citizenship' mean to you? Describe it in a few words — or say what it doesn't mean to you.
  • Do you feel connected to Europe? Why, or why not?
  • What would need to change for Europe to feel more real or relevant to you?

D2 · Dimension

Youth Voice & Knowledge

Young people as knowers, not just learners

KEY QUESTION

Do you feel that young people’s voices and experiences are taken seriously?

DISCUSSION PROMPTS
  • Are there things you know or experience that are not taken seriously in school or in society?
  • When do you feel your opinion is genuinely valued — and when is it ignored?
  • Think of a moment when you were heard. What made that possible? And a moment when you weren't — what got in the way?