Essays - NSW Commission for Children and Young People

Children's understandings of well-being

The NSW Commission for Children and Young People and the Social Justice and Social Change Research Centre, University of Western Sydney asked 126 children and young people across New South Wales about what well-being means to them. Go to Ask the Children: Overview of Children's Understandings of Well-being. Go to Ask the Children: Overview of Children's Understandings of Well-being.

Health

Between August 2005 and February 2006 the Commission spoke with more than 200 children and young people aged 4–18 years about health and what health means to them. We spoke with children and young people in schools, youth advisory councils, hospitals, and disability services. Go to Ask the Children: Children and young people talk about health.

Education

Following the release of the NSW Department of Education and Training’s Futures Project document, Excellence and Innovation, we spoke with over 100 children and young people to get their ideas on ways to make school and TAFEs better for the future. Go to Ask the Children: Education.

Children identify schools as a critical influence on their well-being. To understand the role of school in children’s well-being and to enable children’s views to contribute to education policy and practice, the Commission considered in more detail interviews it conducted with children and young people in its 2005 research about what well-being means to them. Go to Ask the Children: Children speak about being at school.

Participation in research

Involving children and young people in participatory research can be of great benefit to the young participants as well as to researchers. The Commission has put together a compendium of papers that seek to define and address those challenges within the broader context of changing attitudes toward the right of children and young people to play an active role in the decisions and actions that shape their lives. Go to Involving Children and Young People in Research.

Experiences of work

The Commission examined the work experiences of 11,000 children and young people in Years 7 to 10. They answered questions about their work, conditions, satisfaction and quality of life, injuries, harassment at work, and what they like and dislike about working. Go to Ask the Children: Children at work.

In 2007, a further 1,500 children and young people were asked about their experiences of work. Go to Ask the Children: I want to work.

Mobile phones

In 2007 the Commission, the University of Sydney and the University of Technology, Sydney surveyed and spoke with more than 1,500 children and young people in Years 6 and 9 across NSW to understand the impact mobile phones have on their relationships, consumer habits and the importance of mobile phone ownership in their lives. Go to Ask the Children: Kids speak out about mobile phones.

The built environment

Between August and November 2005 the Commission spoke with 100 children and young people aged 4-18 years about what they want and need from their built environment. Go to Ask the Children: Children and young people speak about the built environment.

Driving and road safety

The Commission spoke with more than 130 young people from metropolitan, regional and rural areas of NSW about their views on driving and road safety. Go to Ask the Children: Young Drivers.

Deaths of children and young people

The NSW Child Death Review Team provides information about child deaths and aims to prevent or reduce the number of deaths of children in NSW from birth to 17 years.

Information about the deaths of children and young people aged 0-17 years in NSW in the period January to December 2007 can be found in the Child Death Review Team’s 2007 Annual Report. Go to The Child Death Review Team Annual Report 2007.

A report by the NSW Child Death Review Team that examines ten years of information about child deaths in NSW from 1996 to 2005 has also been released. Go to Trends in Child Deaths in New South Wales 1996-2005.

The Child Death Review Team has also released a report on deaths of children from assault for consideration by the Special Commission of Inquiry into Child Protection Services in New South Wales. Go to Trends in the fatal assault of children in NSW: 1996-2005.