Results & Impact
Each week hundreds of thousands of young people vote on our latest lesson. Here's what they say, and how their voices are changing the world.
14th - 21st March 2025
With young people spending more time online than ever before, we thought it was important to facilitate discussions in the classroom about how to stay safe online. The lessons focused on anonymity specifically, as this particular area can be both beneficial for keeping young people safe and the cause of a lot of online harm. They looked at the positive example of Mats Steen, who was able to live a deeply enriching life as Ibelin Redmoore in the game World of Warcraft, alongside the more sinister example of anonymous online trolling aimed at celebrities, such as Ariana Grande during the Wicked press tour.
Secondary & College voters discussed: "Should anonymity online be protected?", while Primary 7-11 voters were asked: “Should people be allowed to be anonymous online?”, and Primary 5-7 voters considered: “Should people always use their real name online?”
58,011 young people in the UK have taken part in this vote.
total votes
voters aged 5-11
voters aged 11-16+
You can see how our voting is impacting the world on our impact page:
Our Impact
07th - 14th March 2025
News that The Children’s Society and Chicken Cottage have teamed up to help provide safe spaces around the UK for teens to socialise piqued our interest recently. Spotify and the charity, Youth Music have also made headlines for setting up youth-focused creative projects across 15 music venues. Despite this, research from last summer shows that more than two thirds of council-run youth centres in England & Wales have closed since 2010, sparking concerns that young people could be left more isolated than ever. This left us thinking, are youth spaces seen as realistic options to today’s youth or are they outdated and in need of a rethink?
see results
28th February - 07th March 2025
Over National Careers week, we asked young people to consider what they might want from their future careers. We were interested in research conducted by AXA UK, which showed that 60% of young people want to be their own boss by the age of 30. Our voters discussed the pros and cons of owning their own business, before deciding whether it was something they wanted to pursue.
see results
21st - 28th February 2025
In an era where media headlines often oversimplify young people's political perspectives, VotesforSchools continues its mission to amplify the voices of 5-18 year-olds and challenge assumptions. A recent headline from Channel 4, claiming that "more than half of Gen Z want a dictator" caught our attention, prompting us to dig deeper. With around 60,000 young people responding to our weekly VoteTopics, we set out to understand the nuanced perspectives of UK youth on governance and democracy. By posing the question "Should the UK be a dictatorship?", we aimed to move beyond soundbites and provide a more comprehensive view of how young people truly think about political systems and social change.
see results