Youth voice: what exactly are we talking about? A typology of youth voice for UK youth provision: version 2.0
- Network of Regional Youth Work Units
- Aug 24
- 1 min read
Updated: Sep 30
This report, produced by the Centre for Youth Impact, sets out a typology of youth voice practice to give organisations, funders, evaluators, and young people a shared language for describing the different ways youth voice happens across the UK.
The typology defines youth voice as:
Providing support for young people to share their views and ideas – and taking action based on what they say – leading to positive change in services, organisations, or young people’s own lives.
The framework categorises youth voice practice across three dimensions:
Who is speaking? – individual, collective, or representative voices.
Who are young people trying to influence? – their own organisations or the wider public realm (including policy and public opinion).
What activities are used? – ranging from youth boards and trustee roles, to surveys, open feedback, informal/facilitated conversations, Q&A sessions, testing/simulation, and broadcasting.
Case studies from organisations such as Blackpool HeadStart, Kent County Council, Coram Voice, Talent Match Black Country, and the Yorkshire & Humber Youth Work Unit bring these categories to life, showing how youth voice can take many forms and lead to real influence.
The report emphasises that the typology is a descriptive tool – not a ranking of quality or power-sharing – but one that can help:
Practitioners describe and reflect on what they are (and aren’t) doing.
Organisations design services with clearer opportunities for youth influence.
Funders and evaluators assess and support youth voice more consistently.
By providing a structured way to talk about youth voice, the typology aims to strengthen practice, improve evaluation, and ensure young people’s influence leads to action and change.
