For the first time, a survey will offer policymakers unique insights into key transitions in children’s lives, the ability to make international comparisons on child and youth well-being and to evaluate policies over time. This will help them to make more informed decisions on issues ranging from education, to health and social policy.
Led by Manchester Metropolitan University’s Policy Evaluation and Research Unit and The Geary Institute at University College Dublin, the four-year COORDINATE project involves 18 partners across 13 countries.
Professor Gary Pollock, co-project lead from Manchester Metropolitan University’s Policy Evaluation and Research Unit, said, ‘The seismic effects of the Covid-19 crisis on young people’s education and mental well-being underlines the importance of understanding how policy decisions made today affect them in the years to come.
‘In the UK, we have witnessed huge changes to their daily lives over the last year alone, from home-schooling to changes to exams and ongoing issues over the extension of free school meals.
‘Longitudinal surveys routinely inform policy development. Longitudinal data is important as it can be used to show how the experiences of different cohorts of people vary over their life course.’
Associate Professor Jennifer Symonds, co-project lead from The Geary Institute at University College Dublin, added, ‘A Europe-wide birth cohort survey will allow policymakers to access large amounts of data on measures of young people’s health and wellbeing, such as stress at school and happiness in the home, and how these are affected by decisions they make at different stages of their young lives.
‘We believe that this will give children a louder voice in the conversations about issues that affect them.’
The project has been awarded €5m by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme to undertake a range of activities that will build the capacity and infrastructure to collect and use longitudinal survey data to improve child well-being across Europe.
COORDINATE is the next phase of the Growing Up In Digital Europe (GUIDE) project, launched in 2018 and funded by the Horizon 2020 programme in recognition that policymakers are currently unable to draw upon consistent and high quality data on child wellbeing to inform policy.
GUIDE will include nationally representative samples of newborn babies and school-age children. With two cohorts taking place in parallel it will be possible to make cohort comparisons and generate policy relevant data from early in the survey. It will collect both objective and subjective well-being measures on major themes including:
- Inequality
- Learning
- Digital Life
The new longitudinal survey, which is designed to balance scientific rigour, policy priorities, and children’s voice, aims to be an important source of evidence in developing social policies for children, young people and families across Europe for many years to come.
More information
GUIDE: https://www.eurocohort.eu/
COORDINATE: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101008589