Jun Yu, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and a former policy analyst at the OECD’s Directorate for Education and Skills, explains the implications of a recent OECD report for understanding the notion of child empowerment in the digital world.
Undoubtedly, today’s digital landscape has increased risks for children, including misinformation, cyberbullying , hate speech, and online sexual abuse and exploitation. Consequently, “child empowerment” has become a central focus of many educational policies and practices. Empowering children is more crucial—and complex—than ever. What does “child empowerment” really mean in 2024, and how can we achieve it?
A recently published OECD report, based on the 21st Century Children questionnaire with 23 OECD countries and systems,[1] challenges conventional wisdom, suggesting that shielding kids from all online risks may not be the answer. While numerous efforts have been made to reduce online risks, eliminating all risks may not always be beneficial. EU Kids Online 2020, for instance, finds more risk to children online, but not always more harm. This is because risks and harms are conceptually different, and benefits can be accrued if a child is properly equipped to respond to risks. Children’s exposure to certain manageable risks may actually help them become more “resilient”, learning how to recognise, manage, and recover from risky online experiences. Conversely, over-protection may undermine their empowerment.
The report instead emphasises that empowering children requires supporting them to understand their own experiences and construct their own meanings, rather than simply limiting social media use and “screen time”. Digital space is now an essential arena for children’s learning, growth, and discussing their thoughts and feelings, developing a sense of purpose and pro-social behaviours. It calls for more complex understandings of the attitudes and values children need when interacting with the digital environment. Of course, over-engagement may cause addiction and mental health issues. But as evidenced by research, screen time alone is not a meaningful indicator of media engagement’s effects on child empowerment or well-being, as it doesn’t consider who is engaging and what they’re engaging with.
Understanding Child Empowerment
So, what does it mean to empower children? The aforementioned OECD policy questionnaire revealed that “child empowerment” still lacks clear definition and implementation strategies across countries, and the concept is often used as a poorly defined policy vision. To address this, the report seeks to build the concept on a pivotal premise: Children are rights holders and competent social actors “already”. This means children are not simply “adults in the making”, but independent social actors capable of making decisions about their lives, acting on important and relevant issues, and helping shape our shared future.
Recognising children as capable social agents, the report specifies that child empowerment means providing children with “opportunities”—to act on important issues, encouraging their participation and contributions to educational, social, and democratic processes. Empowering children is necessary not only from a human rights perspective but also because it is associated with positive outcomes, such as higher levels of child well-being, positive school climates, motivation and achievement, and civic participation.
Various countries have implemented diverse strategies to foster child empowerment. These include civic education initiatives and policies promoting children’s participation in educational and societal processes. Examples range from establishing dedicated public authorities (e.g. Estonia’s Chancellor of Justice) and youth panels (e.g. Italy), to enacting laws mandating student influence in educational matters (e.g. Sweden’s Education Act). Countries have also adopted school-level participatory approaches, involving children in planning and decision-making processes.
Considered an essential element of child empowerment, children’s emotional well-being is also promoted, through legislation (e.g. Iceland’s 2021 Act on the Integration of Services in the Interest of Children’s Prosperity) or targeted programmes addressing cyberbullying, stress, and anxiety (e.g., Mexico’s Construye T programme, and KiVa in Finland and the Netherlands). Some nations have partnered with external actors to enhance mental health provision in schools (e.g. New Zealand’s Te Rito Toi) and create inclusive environments (e.g. Warme scholen in the Flemish Community of Belgium). Moreover, recognising the potential benefits of digital technologies for participatory activism, debate, and peer communities, several countries have developed strategies and action plans (e.g. Denmark, Flemish Community of Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Norway, and Québec in Canada), initiatives for relevant teacher education (e.g. Australia, Finland, Luxembourg, and Saskatchewan in Canada), and extracurricular activities (e.g. Denmark, Israel, Luxembourg).
More Than Access, More Than Digitally Literate
However, the report also reveals that only three out of 23 surveyed countries and systems reported having a dedicated system-wide media and digital literacy policy or strategy. This is partially because education is often a devolved matter. Nonetheless, integrating digital and critical media literacy into school curricula is needed to equip children with essential skills to critically assess online information and engage responsibly in digital environments. Importantly, children should also be included in this process, as they are keen to be consulted about the digital skills they want to develop.
Addressing inequalities is also particularly crucial, as disparities across children’s digital skills and well-being can seriously undermine child empowerment. Offline disadvantage also has profound implications for digital disadvantage (and vice versa). Even in affluent and technologically advanced countries, differences in the quality of access persist, such as device quality, quantity, or suitability for individual child, resulting in under-connectedness. Inequalities are thus more nuanced than simple “have vs. have-not” distinctions; factors like social backgrounds, gender, and age can act as potential barriers to leveraging digital skills and opportunities. In addition, continuous professional development for educators is crucial in helping children seize digital opportunities and supporting child empowerment. These training programmes should focus on child rights, participatory teaching methods, and digital literacy, enabling teachers to become effective facilitators of child empowerment.
Implementing Effective Strategies and Practices
Ultimately, child empowerment is not only about building digital literacy and coping mechanisms, but about supporting children to fulfil their dreams and flourish. The report outlines several actionable strategies for educators and policymakers, including:
- Developing specific and actionable definitions of “child empowerment”, considering contextual specificities (such as varying social norms and cultural values);
- Devising system-wide strategies and programmes to support and guide children, and allowing children to learn by taking risks and making mistakes;
- Providing capacity-building for teachers and parents to support children’s digital skill and media literacy development, ensuring child empowerment extends beyond classroom;
- Coordinating approaches to ensure consistency within and between schools;
- Creating educational policies that champion child participation and involvement, and integrate their perspectives into education system avoiding “tokenistic, tick-the-box” approaches;
- Forming cross-sectoral collaborations and partnerships across public sector, technology firms, and non-profit organisations to provide a diversity of resources and learning opportunities;
- Designing digital environments (including algorithms) with children’s needs and rights in mind, promoting “opportunity by design”.
In conclusion, this OECD report calls for systemic changes in education systems to support child empowerment, including integrating children’s rights and voices in decision-making processes. Educational policies must focus on creating inclusive environments that foster a sense of belonging and enable all children to participate fully. Empowering children is not just an educational goal, but a societal imperative that calls for concerted effort and innovative thinking.
[1] Australia, Belgium (Flemish Community and French Community), Canada, Denmark, England (United Kingdom), Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Türkiye.
This post represents the views of the author and not the position of the Media@LSE blog, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
