Jargon Buster
Young person
- What does this mean?
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Someone who is not a legal adult, and thus should be treated as a minor.
Different organisations should set their own definitions of the age at which someone stops being a young person. But an acceptable and pragmatic default would seem to be at the age that both marks the start of practical majority and the Arts Council England ‘Family Friendly’ initiative’s definition of a child. This is 16 years of age or less. (See the related protocol for below.)
- How did we get this definition?
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‘Young person’ is a nebulous term.
It tends to be used as a catch-all phrase for anyone who is not an adult. But there is arts-related research that treating all ‘non-adults’ as a homogenous whole can be inappropriate.
For instance, the 2001 Funky on Your Flier report on the ‘Crossing the Line’ seminars and their conclusions, notes that young people do not necessarily conform to strict age breaks, and definitely do not perceive themselves first and foremost as ‘young people’.
Hence in this report Richard Ings writes:
‘What is fascinating is that the speaker [a 15-year-old boy] describes himself as a new person, rather than a young person. He is, in effect, defining himself as a new entity and, as such, in contrast, and possibly in conflict, with an old way of life. Such a perception would no doubt affect how likely he is to attend events that are viewed as old or apparently aimed at older people.’ (Original author’s emphases)
Yet while such a relativistic approach seems logical and warranted, there may still be a need to set a clear boundary between what constitutes a young person and what constitutes an ‘adult’.
The Electoral Commission has recently reviewed the UK age of electoral majority and recommends the retention of 18 years of age as the minimum voting age. There is therefore slight tension between this and the age used for the Arts Council England ‘Family Friendly’ initiative to define a dependent child (i.e. 16 years of age.)
However, the Electoral Commission report has an appendix that lists the various minimum legal ages. Hence the considerations that apply to 16 year olds include those shown below. From this it can be seen that 16 seems to mark – for all intents and purposes–the start of practical and civic majority.
Furthermore there also seems to be virtue in allowing arts organisations to define a ‘young person’ in relation to that organisation’s programme and work.
- Related and similar definitions
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Consequently, taking all the above issues into consideration, it is recommended that while arts organisations should use their own definition of a ‘young person’, the standard age used for defining a young person should fit with the definition used by Arts Council England for its ‘Family Friendly’ initiative, and with the onset of practical, civic majority. That is a young person is someone aged 16 or younger.
List of things that 16 year olds can do legally (extract)
At 16, legally you can: buy and drink beer or cider to have with a meal in a pub restaurant or hoteljoin the Army, Royal Navy or Royal Air Force as long as your parents give their permissionleave school after the last Friday in June and start full-time work on the following Mondayjoin a trade unionget married as long as your parents consentconsent to sexual intercourse with another person over the age of 16leave home with the consent of your parentschoose your own doctor and consent to medical or dental treatmentbe liable to pay Income Tax and National Insurance.
Source: The Electoral Commission [2004]
- When to use
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This protocol should be used whenever an arts organisation wishes to segment, research and report on discrete groups within its audiences, attenders and visitors.