Eliciting Young People’s Views on Wellbeing Through Contemporary Science Debates in Wales

Abstract

Renewed vigour in wellbeing measurement combined with a shift towards a ‘new sociology of childhood’ has resulted in growing emphasis on incorporating the voices and perspectives of young people in discussions of what matters to them and how this can feed into broader indicator development. This has led to a more sustained effort to ask young people directly about what contributes to their wellbeing. This raises important questions about how young people should be engaged in discussions about what wellbeing means to them. This paper provides an account of an innovative approach to eliciting young people’s views on wellbeing in Wales, United Kingdom, using the vehicle of ‘contemporary science debates’ (CSD). CSD is designed to engage young people in innovative and participative discussions on social and ethical issues associated with contemporary science. Here, it is used to provide young people with the opportunity to debate the relevance of wellbeing to their every-day lives and give them an opportunity to make their opinions heard. The paper explores the value of using this approach as a methodology for gathering information on what young people understand about wellbeing and provides an initial analysis of which aspects of wellbeing were identified as important for them. It situates this within the broader context of giving voice to young people in the development of subjective wellbeing measures.