About engagED

What is engagED?

EngagED was a collaborative project between the University of Cambridge, University of Leicester and Community Service Volunteers (CSV) and supported by the Society of Educational Studies (SES). The project researched, over two years, the citizenship action and voice of young people in the UK.
The project answered the following research questions:

How are voice and civic action conceptualised within various academic, policy and practice arenas? Do notions vary between adults and young people, and between different groups of young people?
Are levels of civic action low amongst young people, and particularly low amongst socially disadvantaged groups? If so, what is the impact of gender and ethnicity?
What is effective practice for engaging young people from socio-economically disadvantaged communities in civic action and learning? How can this be developed further?

Download the four stages of the research project: engagED Project Stages

Impact and Significance

The project:

prioritised the voices of young people, to enable new perspectives on civic action and learning to emerge
informed key debates within both academic and practice-based Citizenship Education communities
generated knowledge that will support schools and voluntary organisations to take account of the various ways in which young people from socio-economically disadvantaged communities express their civic identities, engage with their communities at local, national and global level, and reflect on this processes of participation
integrated the findings into the work of the CSV and other voluntary sector organisations, thus enabling them to gain a unique opportunity to reflect on, change and develop the way they work in the future.