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Parliamentarians

Welcome...

HeadsUp is a website designed to encourage young people to engage with politics via topical issues and events. It is has been produced by the Hansard Society with funding from the House of Commons.

Parliamentarians are invited to use HeadsUp as a means of consulting with young people in a secure and structured manner.

Parliamentarians can get involved in HeadsUp in a number of ways:

• By taking part in the online discussions. You can contribute via your home or office computer, at any time of the day. The site is secure and does not require software to be downloaded;
• By giving feedback on findings, ideas or questions arising from the discussions, showing young people how they can help inform your decision-making; 
• By taking part in a pre-arranged question/answer interview, which will present your point of view on the discussion topics;
• By telling schools and colleagues about the HeadsUp.

Objectives of HeadsUp

The objectives of the HeadsUp initiative are to:

• Enable young people to interact and learn from each other over a period of asynchronous online discussion;
   
  
• Provide a platform for young people to raise ideas, opinions, concerns and questions relating to political issues and policies;
   
  
• Support each forum with comprehensive background information for both students and their educators, so that participants were able to debate issues and policies in a balanced and structured manner;
   
  
• Facilitate the participation of parliamentarians in the debates, so that they might ask questions and respond to the contributions of the students;
   
  
• Gather evidence to inform Parliament and Government of the impact their activity and policy has or will have on young citizens in UK society;
   
  
• Provide innovative resources to support the teaching of citizenship and politics.

Why online consultation?

The HeadsUp Forum is an online discussion space that provides an alternative to classroom-based debates.

Students can communicate with their peers across the whole of the UK, free of time and place constraints. The site is secure, accessible and student-centred.

Parlaimentarians can use the same discussion space to consult with young people. Using the site requires no installation of software and is completely web-based.

At the close of every debate a summary report is produced and made available alongside a complete transcript and set of debate statistics.

How can I get involved?

To register your interest or get more information, please contact Beccy Allen. Alternatively you can phone .

Hansard Society

The HeadsUp initiative is managed and maintained by the Hansard Society, a non-partisan organisation, committed to supporting Citizenship Education and promoting effective parliamentary democracy.

Sponsors & Credits

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