In December 2020, we released a documentary called Excluded which documented the impact of school exclusion on children’s rights. Young people have the right to education. (The Human Rights Act, Article 2, Protocol 1) They also have a right to express themselves on issues that concern them, be listened to and taken seriously. (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 12)
‘Excluded’ put these rights at the heart of how we made this film as it was made in collaboration with the young people that feature in it. We used a co-production process working with young people based in London and in Scotland who have been affected by exclusion. It included some young people supported by includem and members of the Scottish Youth Parliament who shared their thoughts on how to end exclusion.
On Wednesday 9 November from 130pm, we’ll be holding a free conference at Glasgow’s CCA on Sauchiehall Street and we’d love to bring together young people from Scotland affected by these issues, along with people working in education, civil society and charities particularly those interested in co-design and co-production. We want to start conversations that will continue well beyond this event and enable young people to have an opportunity to speak up.
Sign up for your place at the conference here!
The conference will be followed by a reception and a free screening of ‘Excluded’ for the first time on the big screen in Scotland.
The conference will look to bring together key voices on education and participatory action with a panel focussing on co-production and one focussing on exclusion and its impact on children’s rights. We’ll be seeking questions from affected young people in Scotland, and from the audience in advance to help shape the day. We want this event to be a conversation rather than a lecture – and while our panelists will be sat on a stage – we want to invite the opportunity for questions particularly from young people in Scotland. If you have anyone that you think would like to pose a question or an issue to our panel – please send them to me – or they can use the hashtag #ExcludedPanel on Twitter to send their questions to us.
Both panels will be co-chaired by Professor Laura Lundy from Queen’s University Belfast and young people affected by these issues.
Betty Pearl in ‘Excluded’.
Event Schedule – Wednesday 9 November
Doors open at 130pm with a 2pm start
Introduction to event 2pm – 215pm
Dr Sarah Wishart – Creative Director of EachOther and director of Excluded
Co-production Panel – 215-345pm
Co-chairs Betty Pearl and Laura Lundy are joined by Juliet Harris, Director of Together, and Olivia Brown MSYP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh
Break 345-415pm
School Exclusion Panel – 415-545pm
Co-chairs – a young person with exclusion experience and Laura Lundy are joined by Bruce Adamson, The Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, Iain Nisbet, specialist in the field of education law, and Consultant Solicitor from Cairn Legal in Glasgow and Zainab Adeleye MSYP for Glasgow Southside
Wine reception – 6-645pm
Premiere screening of Excluded – EachOther’s award winning documentary for the first time on the big screen. 7 – 745pm
Details of panelists
Professor Laura Lundy, Queen’s University Belfast: Laura Lundy is Co-Director of the Centre for Children’s Rights and Professor of Education Law and Children’s Rights at Queen’s University, Belfast and Professor of Law at University College Cork. She is co-Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Children’s Rights. Her expertise is in law and human rights with a particular focus on children’s right to participate in decision-making and education rights. Her 2007 paper in the British Educational Research Journal, “’Voice’ is not enough” is one of the most highly cited academic papers on children’s rights ever. The model of children’s participation it proposes (based on four key concepts – Space, Voice, Audience and Influence) is used extensively in scholarship and practice. The “Lundy model” has been adopted by numerous national governments, including Ireland in its national strategy and framework on child and youth participation, as well as international organisations including the European Commission, Council of Europe, World Health Organisation and UNICEF.
Betty Pearl: Movement Leader – Betty is an alumni from the class of 2017 and has organised on campaigns such as Influuenzers and Education Not Exclusion. Through the latter campaign she was massively involved in the documentary Excluded, produced by human rights charity Each Other. She studied Politics and International Relations (the TAA alumni course) at the University of Nottingham, where she was the President of Feminists’ Society for a term. Over the past year she has been a part of the Involving Young People Collective for grant-making foundation Esmee Fairbairn. She is really excited to be continuing her love for justice work at The Advocacy Academy.
Bruce Adamson: – Bruce Adamson has been the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland since 2017, and is responsible for promoting and safeguarding the rights of children and young people across Scotland. He is a lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in human rights. Originally from New Zealand, he moved to Scotland in 2002, working for Scotland’s first Children’s Commissioner, the Scottish Human Rights Commission, and Chairing the Board of the Scottish Child Law Centre. He has worked as a human rights expert for a number of international bodies, and is former Chair of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children.
Zainab Adeleye MSYP
Zainab Adeleye is MSYP for Glasgow Southside. She sits on the Independent Review Group (IRG) for Qualifications and Assessment which is led by Professor Louise Hayward from the University of Glasgow. The group has been tasked with reforming how young people are assessed. She also has experience volunteering with MORE Glasgow – Migrants Organising for Rights and Empowerment.
Olivia Brown: Olivia Brown is MSYP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh elected in November 2021, and then as a Trustee last April. Throughout the last year, Olivia has worked with YWCA, the SQA and her local authority on various issues. She has met with MSPs multiple times in Parliament and at bill launches, and even spoken on the news about local council elections. Her remit as an SYP Board Member includes campaigns and events.
Juliet Harris Juliet is Director of Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights). Over the past decade, Juliet has led work to progress the human rights of children across legislation, policy and practice. She is Vice Chair of the Children’s Parliament, a Trustee of the Environmental Rights Centre Scotland and is a founder member of the Observatory of Children’s Human Rights Scotland. She sits on numerous Scottish Government Advisory Groups, including the UNCRC Strategic Implementation Board and the Human Rights Bill Advisory Board. She is former chair of the Rights of the Child UK Coalition and has played an active role of a number of UN Taskforces, including UN Committee’s Day of General Discussion on Children as Human Rights Defenders. Juliet is a guest lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and her work on children’s rights has been published widely. When not working, Juliet spends as much time as possible exploring the outdoors, climbing, biking, running or skiing to the most remote places she can find.
Iain Nisbet Iain Nisbet is an education law solicitor, with particular expertise and interest in additional support needs law and equality law in education. He is a consultant solicitor with Cairn Legal, and provides the legal representation and advice services as part of the statutory My Rights, My Say service. Ranked in the Education (Individuals) category (UK-wide), Chambers 2022 says of him: “He has an excellent knowledge of education law and is extremely experienced in the field. .. He is particularly strong in appeals concerning admission into special schools, as well as cases relating to exclusions and breaches of the Equality Act.” And on exclusion: “Exclusion from school is both damaging and ineffective. It is used most often against our most vulnerable children. Particularly where it is used against children with additional support needs, it can be and should be challenged.”
Regarding the panel format
We want this event to be a conversation rather than a lecture – and while our panelists will be sat on a stage – we want to invite the opportunity for questions particularly from young people in Scotland. Tweet at us with the hashtag #ExcludedPanel