The Big Ambition
The Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, published The Big Ambition, compiling the voices, views and experiences of children about their lives and aspirations.
Findings in The Big Ambition cover 10 themes of family, education, children’s social care, youth work, online safety, health, safety from crime, jobs and skills, unaccompanied children seeking asylum and thoughts on ‘a better world’. It found that:
Children in this country constantly amaze me with their insight and awareness. This is a generation of children faced with ever-evolving technology, stiff competition for jobs and university places, a postcode lottery in access to good healthcare, parents struggling with rising costs and lives played out over social media – but rather than becoming despondent or pessimistic, they are charged with energy and a passion for making change.
Yet – disappointingly – only one in five feel listened to by the adults in power. Without the proper structures in place to consult with them, it means when it comes to elections, manifestos, promises from their local MPs or councillors, their opinions are too easily ignored. They are talked about, rather than to – they are not truly heard.
Childhood is precious and should be protected. My vision for children is one where they believe in their ability to drive change without bearing the weight of adult responsibilities. This report, which marks the halfway point of my term, is a call to action to all politicians and policy makers in this general election year: listen to children and act on what they are telling you.
The Big Ambition was launched formally in Parliament on March 25th, 2024 alongside the Commissioner’s 16 youth Ambassadors. It offers a positive vision to improve and protect childhood by setting 33 practical ambitions aimed at overcoming the challenges children told the Commissioner they face: from staying safe online and challenging harmful myths around body image, to lessons in how to manage their money and more enriching activities that divert away from crime.
The Big Ambition was a large-scale consultation of children in England carried out between September 2023 and January 2024, engaging 367,000 children and adults, and receiving responses from 253,000. Children aged 6 to 17, young people aged 18 still in school or college, and adults on behalf of children answered a broad set of questions about their lives. Results cover 10 themes of family, education, children’s social care, youth work, online safety, health, safety from crime, jobs and skills, unaccompanied children seeking asylum, and thoughts on ‘a better world’, based on the ‘pillars’ of the Commissioner’s work established in The Big Ask.
A PDF summary of all three 33 ambitions and the key findings under each theme.
Over three years, the Children’s Commissioner has gathered close to a million responses from children on how they feel, and what their experience of growing up in this country is like. This is the story of what children have said.
For schools, there are lesson slides and lesson plans available for download using the links.
Two lesson plans are included for each age group: a 40-minute long format lesson plan and a shorter 20-minute lesson plan. The lesson plans aim to help children understand how they can have their voices heard and participate in The Big Ambition survey.
If you are posting content about The Big Ambition, please use the hashtag #TheBigAmbition. We will be sharing posts from schools, individuals, and organisations.
You may also wish to tag the official Children’s Commissioner channels:
On this page you can find things to have a look at and activities to do based on different areas of your life.