In a rather unusual overtly democratic move, as reported by the BBC millions of children in England are going to be asked to be a part of a survey seeking answers to questions about “how happy they are about aspects of their lives, and what they think stops children achieving what they want to achieve when they grow up”. The initiative, launched by the recently appointed Children’s Commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, is the largest attempt to gauge views in the UK. The project, appropriately titled “The Big Ask” will be launched by the footballer, Marcus Rashford, now frequently consulted by the Government on challenges for underprivileged children, after he successfully managed to reverse a policy on suspending free meals at school during holiday time for the most needy children. As Dame Rachel commented, “It is time to give something back to children after the huge sacrifices they have made during the Covid pandemic”. This exercise of gathering input is to be applauded. One can only hope that the responses are taken note of and positive changes in education can be put into action.
