Raising the standard of work by, with and for children and young people

The Arts Council is committed to ensuring that every young person has the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts. Children and young people engage with arts and cultural activity in multiple ways and many approaches have been developed to evaluate the quality of these activities. We have identified the need to develop a shared approach for the Arts Council and arts and culture organisations to understand and compare the quality of work by, with and for children and young people.

Our first step to the development of shared 'quality principles' will be achieved by analysing existing quality and outcome frameworks consulting with practitioners and experts in the sector.

Access the video and audio resources from our Children and young people quality event on this page or find out more about the event.

Research and consultation

We have commissioned a review of existing quality frameworks used by the arts, culture and youth sectors in order to reveal the principles of quality which underpin existing frameworks.

We will also be carrying out a broad consultation with the arts, culture and youth sectors to explore the values of quality which underpin or guide their work, and the approaches that individual practitioners or organisations take to ensure these are achieved. We want to encourage debate and discussion about this area of work and are planning a series of events, as well as the opportunity for practitioners, experts and interested people to share their knowledge and experience online. Further details of these opportunities to take part will be available soon.

A final report which outlines our research findings and consultation outputs will be published in spring 2012.

If you have any questions or comments about this project, please contact Amy Turton, Officer, Policy Development.