Reduction and Prevention of Serious Violence and Knife Crime amongst Young People: A Participatory Project

This project is a collaboration between the University of Northampton (UON) and the Chiltern Learning Trust and was funded by the UON Public and Community Engagement & Participatory Research grants fund, which supports University staff to deliver innovative research that is co-created to deliver wider benefits to the public and communities that UON engage with. This project had two key aims:

(1) The first aim of the project was to gain a better understanding of young people’s perceptions of knife crime and serious violence in Bedfordshire and what can be done to address it, particularly by schools.

(2) The second aim of the project was to collaboratively develop techniques and expertise in coproduced participatory research with young people that can be applied in other settings. The project involved an Advisory Group of young people.

The research took a mixed method approach, which included a survey with year 9-11 students (13–16year-olds) and workshops with year 9 and 10 students (13–15-year-olds). The survey was completed by 1,158 students from 12 schools across Luton and Bedfordshire. In addition to the survey three workshops were held in one of the schools, which 26 students participated in. The design and interpretation of the research was aided by an Advisory Group of nine students from years 9 and 10. Outlined below are some of the key findings from the survey and workshops.