The power of youth in co-creating education | International Day of Education 2026

An introduction from Professor Li Wei, Director and Dean of the UCL Institute of Education

This year’s theme for UNESCO’s International Day of Education speaks very directly to the values and principles held strongly by us at the UCL Institute of Education (IOE).

We believe that children and young people’s rights must be respected, and their role as citizens – not citizens-to-be – must be recognised; therefore it is important to listen to what they have to say.

Li Wei, Director and Dean

The work of IOE colleagues such as Professor Berry Mayall (1936–2021) and Professor Priscilla Alderson has been particularly instrumental in promoting such a construction of childhood. Today, a variety of our work reflects these principles. This includes research foregrounding children’s voices, whether in relation to education during the Covid-19 pandemic or the experience of poverty, including its impact on learning.

Alongside is work calling attention to children and young people as change agents, particularly in relation to global citizenship and sustainable development, as well as our part in educating Citizenship teachers, teachers who, in the English context, have a particular role in empowering young people to exercise their voice.

We welcome UNESCO’s involvement of young people in its own decision-making, as well as in encouraging and enabling others to do so, through its research and monitoring and related tools, not to mention its vital work in helping to safeguard access to education.

The IOE, too, will continue to champion children and young people’s voice and supportive policy and practice to that end.

200 years of student life at UCL

A photo of a group of students on the steps of the UCL Portico swaying in a group.

‘There is no university without its students’. As we celebrate UCL’s bicentenary this year, the Generation UCL project explores the university’s rich history of student life – led by IOE, the UCL Students’ Union and student researchers.

From students’ experiences during WWII, to student activism during apartheid and UCL’s first Chinese students, this history comes together in a new book by Georgina Brewis and Sam Blaxland, featuring oral history testimonies, memoirs and letters from students who studied in London from the 1940s to the 2020s.

Young people as citizens, not citizens-to-be

Votes at 16: the role of Citizenship education

Hans Svennevig (Subject Leader, Citizenship PGCE) reflects on young people’s appetite for Citizenship education and specialist teachers to prepare them for the future, on the IOE blog.

As the UK moves towards a lower voting age, young people want and need early grounding in political understanding.

Hans Svennevig

Citizenship education and climate injustice: Can schools bear the weight of a warming world?

Student teacher Jaren reflects on the power of Citizenship education to inspire student action. He explores how young people, when empowered with the tools of citizenship, can take ownership of the issues that matter to them, on the IOE student blog.

Championing young people’s role in shaping education

A young woman sitting on a bench in the Flaxman Gallery. Behind her is the plaster cast statue of Michael slaying the serpent. Around her are plaster casts made by Flaxman mounted on the walls.

A call to place global learning at the heart of the education system

Global learning can empower teachers, young people and policymakers to address today’s complex, global issues – including the climate crisis, inequality and poverty. Led by the Development Education Research Centre, young people, educationalists, and teachers called for the government to place global learning at the heart of the education system last year.

Reflecting on young people’s vision for climate change and sustainability education in schools

Young people, and those who teach them, care deeply about the state of our planet. Free, research-informed, professional development from the UCL Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education aims to support teachers of all subjects and stages to better integrate climate change and sustainability into their practice to counter eco-anxiety with agency and action.

Learning from students and their teachers

Often, women and girls are more vulnerable to the detrimental impacts of climate change. A UCL project asked over 500 girls and over 700 of their teachers in Alexandria what could be done to make climate and sustainability education more effective. Together, they identified five policymaking opportunities.

Fostering advocacy and community through creativity

Beyond words: creative listening in (dis)ability and employment

Duncan Mercieca and Leda Kamenopoulou designed an interactive workshop for disabled young people navigating unemployment last November. Through hands-on creativity activities, they explored what employment means when viewed through the lens of disability, to embody lived experiences beyond what speech can capture. Read their reflections on the IOE blog.

Art as a shared space for making, learning and thinking

Teacher Joseph Murray (Art Education, Culture and Practice MA alumnus) developed a student-led art workshop system, which encouraged older students to support younger ones. This system is aligned with the “communities of practice” approach that reimagines the art room as a shared space of experimentation and learning. As part of this, he also established a student-led gallery at his school, enabling students to engage with art in ways that feel meaningful to their lives. Read more on the IOE student blog.

Play gives children a sense of agency during difficult circumstances

Research from the Play Observatory project emphasised the value of children’s voices in recording their own experiences. The team explored the experiences of children outside the classroom and formal education, to illuminate how “placemaking” – children’s ability to create mediated third spaces in homes or digital spaces – gave children agency during difficult circumstances.