Data · Tool
Youth Voice Co-Assessment Tool
A way for young people and adults to look honestly, together, at how well youth voice works in their setting, and to agree what to do next. Built around seven principles and designed to start a conversation, not to hand out a grade.
What it is
The tool helps any group where young people are supported to raise their voices and influence change, from consultation and co-production to youth-led governance, activism and social action, to reflect on its practice.
It was developed end to end with the Youth Voice Ambassadors, a group of 16 to 24 year olds, and tested with practitioners before launching in April 2026. It is free to use in any organisation or setting.
Each principle is broken into a few statements. For each one, the group talks it through and agrees a score:
- 1Doesn't happen, or very inconsistent
- 3Happens sometimes, for some young people
- 5Happens consistently, for all young people
The framework
Seven principles
What meaningful youth voice practice looks like, in the words the Ambassadors chose.
Youth voice feeds into ongoing learning and improvement
Whether feedback is gathered from young people, and whether what is learned is shared beyond the group.
Young people have a say in how things are run
How clear it is who decides what, and whether young people feel a sense of ownership.
Adults and young people agree on what they want to achieve together
Planning together, and making sure there is enough time and resource to do it properly.
Every young person feels safe to contribute honestly
Flexible ways to take part, and ongoing support that includes asking young people how it is going.
Young people benefit from taking part
Whether taking part feels worthwhile, and what young people gain from it personally.
The opportunities are as fair and equitable as possible
Inclusive support, young people's say on accessibility, and whether the wider organisation backs this up.
All adults are part of a culture that truly listens and takes action
How adults listen, how the organisation responds, and how open it is about what happened as a result.
Using it
How to work through it
Print it for a group to complete together, or for people to fill in individually and then compare.
Background
Note who is taking part and what youth voice work you are looking at.
Prioritise
Rank the seven principles by how important they are to you right now.
Score and reflect
Score each part of a principle, then capture what you talked about.
Summarise and act
Pull the scores together, agree actions, and set a date to review.
Ground rules
- Do it togetherYoung people and adults complete it side by side, and both views count equally.
- Talk before you scoreDiscuss each statement openly first. The conversation matters more than the number.
- Choose your focus togetherAgree which principles matter most to your group right now.
- Honesty over high scoresA low score you can act on is more useful than a high score nobody believes.
- Go at your own paceWork through it in one session or several.
- Come back to itUse it as a map: revisit it to see what has changed.
What's next
A digital tool for practitioners
We're working on a tool that practitioners can use online, built on this framework, so groups can score together, keep their results and see how things change over time. We'll share it here when it's ready.
For now, the printable PDF has everything you need to run a session. If you use it, we'd love to hear how it went and what would make the digital version useful to you.