Our Role:

We want to provide – and support our partners to provide – PE, school sport and physical activity opportunities that are meaningful and enjoyable for all young people. Youth Voice is an essential tool to achieving this as it enables us to seek, listen and respond to the voices of young people who are underserved and/or who have low levels of participation.

Example of our Youth Voice activities:

• Our Youth Board are advisors on the direction of our work, influencers of our initiatives, and our representatives with key decision makers. The chair of the Youth Board is also a trustee on the Youth Sport Trust Board.

• The 2023 Youth Summit (pictured) brought together 100 young people who were recruited through partnership working to ensure diverse representation. The group designed three calls to action for the whole of the PE and school sport sector.
• Unified Action - Diversifying Sports Governance is a research project to diversify sports governance and build inclusive cultures within National Governing Bodies of Sport. It is led by eight young changemakers from ethnically diverse communities and underrepresented groups, who are empowered to lead the research through youth voice.
• Our Youth Voice Resources (below) were co-designed by young people. During the 2023/24 academic year, we worked with groups of young people to co-design a youth voice plan which outlines the principles underpinning meaningful youth voice. The plan outlines our priorities for how we will embed youth voice across Youth Sport Trust and how we will support the PE and school sport network to embed youth voice in their work. This will guide our work over the next three years. This is complimented by our Youth Voice Toolkit, activity cards and case studies.

This Youth Voice Toolkit has been developed by the Youth Sport Trust to help to ensure that – through Youth Voice – young people shape provision aimed at them.

It is for all those involved in the provision of PE, sport and physical activity for young people – in schools and beyond.

It has been co-produced with young people and reflects:

• Young people’s experiences and insights
• Learning from our own experience of developing Youth Voice
• Collaboration with and learning from other partners.

The toolkit aims to inspire and support. You may use, adapt or add to it as you please. It will be an evolving resource: additional tools will be added as we continue to develop and learn from young people and partners.

How to use the toolkit

1. Read the overview: What is Youth Voice?
2. Look at the practical examples in Inspire Me!
3. Self-review to select which of the eight areas of Youth Voice to prioritise
4. Explore your priority area(s) for suggestions, examples, tips and links to additional tools