Panel Information
- For those aged 11 to 18-years-old
- In-person Saturday meetings at Young Scot’s office in Edinburgh
- First meeting is taking place on Saturday 7 June
- Meetings will be held every 8-10 weeks until March 2026. Exact dates TBC.
- Travel costs included & lunches provided
- Receive 200 Young Scot Reward Points for taking part. Don’t have free membership with Young Scot yet? Sign up here and access exclusive rewards and discounts!
- Record your participation as volunteer hours with Saltire Awards
About this opportunity
The YSEquity Panel is a group of young people from across Scotland and from lots of different backgrounds. They work together to share their experiences and views on how to make the school experience fairer for young people impacted by poverty. Their work looks at how the Scottish Government can help remove barriers pupils face when trying to achieve their goals in school and education. The panel work with Scottish Government staff to help shape and inform policies so that education can be more accessible to all young people.
As a panel member you will have the opportunity to discuss topics like:
- School attendance
- Cost of the school day
- Access to education and opportunities
- Extra-curricular and out of school activities
- Scottish Attainment Challenge
You might also have the opportunity to meet with decision makers from Scottish Government and Education Scotland to share your views directly.
You don’t need any experience to apply and we’d love to hear from anyone interested in getting involved. However, we’re particularly keen to hear from young people who have had experience of being a young carer, care experienced, living rurally, having access to free school meals or have an additional support need (this includes neurodiversity). Sharing your views and experiences would be really valuable on the Panel.
Get Involved
Interested in being a YSEquity Panel Member?
Applications close Sunday 1 June at midnight.
We are happy to make reasonable adjustments to help you take part based on your needs. All young people are welcome at Young Scot including those with disabilities, neurodiversity, queer young people and ethnic minorities.
We’re keen to collaborate with young people who can sometimes have barriers to taking part in opportunities due to their personal circumstances. This includes ethnic minorities, disabled young people, young carers, care-experienced young people, and young people who live in low-income households.
This application form is also available as a word document and we also accept verbal applications made using video or voice recordings. If you need any support with applying, please contact us at YSHive@young.scot and we’ll be happy to help.
Next Steps
Once you complete the form, we will be in touch with you via email. Depending on the volume of interest in this Panel, we may run a short, online selection session. More details about this will be shared.
Questions or concerns?
No problem, we’re happy to help with those! Just get in touch with us at yshive@young.scot and we’ll support you as best we can.