Conceptualising Children’s Voice and Data

Conceptualising children's voice and data

Perpetua Kirby, Caitlin Shaughnessy and Elaine Sharland

Voice and data as meaningfully related

‘Voice’ and ‘data’ have been at the heart of our research project from the start. Our challenge is to to do the right thing by, with and for children, young people and families, by ensuring their voices, and the voices of those who work with them – appear within the data and information that are gathered about them, in ways that can improve agencies’ use of that information, to improve their lives. Core to this commitment is identifying how ‘voice’ and ‘data’ are meaningfully related. 

We use ‘voice’ metaphorically to mean, in the broadest sense, views, wishes, feelings and expressions of lived experience. A serious commitment to voice demands deep listening to a wide range of perspectives, communications and concerns, and being open to what’s challenging and difficult to hear. As an interdisciplinary team, coming from different research, policy and practice backgrounds, we’ve had to begin by listening to each other. We’ve discovered that we had different understandings of data and voice, and we sometimes used the same language in different ways. We’ve also listened to our stakeholders and partners and the varying ways that they understand and use these terms amongst themselves. Some, for example, see data as the numbers and statistics that they use to populate their dashboards, to inform service planning and complete statutory returns. Others see data as anything that is collected and documented, such as case notes, WhatsApp messages, even emojis. All can count as information, that becomes processed and used.  

What’s clear from our conversations so far is that many practitioners see voice as part of their everyday practice, not something that can, or should, be gathered or measured as an extra. For them, deep listening is part of an ethic of respect: it’s core to their commitment to understanding and building relationships with children, young people and families. So voice and data are not separate but already intertwined: voice is integral to what informs practitioners, including what they note, understand, decide and do.  

Voice beyond the spoken

Voice is commonly taken to be something verbal (whether spoken or written), but listening to voice means using our eyes as well as our ears. It involves noticing and reflecting on the thoughts and feelings evoked by what has been being observed and heard: What surprises us? What are the tensions? What remains unclear?  We suggest that voice can be implicit or explicit, formal or informal, accessible or hidden, often fluid but sometimes constant. Voice doesn’t exist in a vacuum: it's produced through relationships and within particular contexts. Deep listening demands attention to all these qualities. 

Amplifying voice

Not all voices are equally represented in the data that children’s services use. Children’s, young people’s and carers’ voices, especially those expressed in everyday interactions and those that are ‘harder to reach’, need amplifying within data collected by local authorities.  The voices of practitioners’ as well as team and service managers’ often need amplifying too. It’s also clear that some voices are already embedded within existing data. These are the voices of government or senior management that determine what’s to be collected and what’s to be collated: we hear them, for example, in the pre-set question headings on visit logs or assessment schedules. We hear them too in the processes of analysis and interpretation that turn data into information for use in service planning and decision-making. More technical voices are also heard in how management information systems are configured.

Everyday listening to voice

The ways that data are collected from and with children, young people and families are important.  They don’t simply support service planning and delivery, they change the practices and relationships that are embedded within these services. Rarely would a parent give their child a questionnaire and ask them to rate their wellbeing, or how they feel about their housing, on a scale of 1-10. In contrast, weaving questions that need answering into everyday conversations with children and young people, say whilst driving to an appointment, is what relationship-based practice looks like, with voice and care at its heart.  Where young voices are integral to everyday practice, and to recording of what’s said, seen, heard and done, they become more easily and more meaningfully embedded within data. 

Why deep listening matters

The principles of deep listening to voice, especially in the everyday, now need to be taken upstream. The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care (2022) noted that, “...ambitious missions are needed so that care experienced people secure: loving relationships; quality education; a decent home; fulfilling work and good health as the foundations for a good life…” (p.6, our emphases). We’ve highlighted in bold these qualitative terms for a reason. We all hope for ourselves and our loved ones to have people who are close to us, whom we can confide in, trust and rely on; homes that give us comfort and warmth; education that transforms us; jobs that bring us fulfilment; and good physical and mental health. Rather than just meeting the minimum, we look to people, opportunities and places that can help us. Children, young people and families receiving social care and other support have a right to these too. Practices and processes that enhance deep listening to diverse voices and embed what matters to people in their data, need to be at the heart of what we count as success in enabling children, young people and families to flourish.