Let all the bairns decide Scotland's future!

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Monday 23 January 2012

Fourteen days down, another 986 to go. I do hope you all have a wall chart up and are counting down the sleeps.

Though you may want to hibernate your way through this procedural bit of the independence referendum debate, you really should sit up and pay attention.

It might be tedious, there might be an awful lot of gesticulating and noise-making from the political parties and respective parliamentary institutions, but actually some of the decisions reached in these early days will have profound and longlasting impact.

One of the issues being tussled over is who gets to vote. It's long been SNP policy to extend the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds. The other parties – some of whom, like the Liberal Democrats, actually agree with this policy – are crying foul, sensing a Nationalist plot to skew the weight of voters in favour of independence. In every school election conducted in recent years, young people have tended to plump for the SNP, long before it was fashionable for grown-ups to do so. If 16 and 17 year olds are to get the vote, it shouldn't just be for the referendum planned for autumn 2014, say the Unionists. The SNP agrees; problem is it seemed to forget to arrange for this to happen in advance of this year's local government elections. I support the idea of 16 and 17 year olds having a say in the big debate and getting to vote for their future. But I'd go further and give a vote to all children over the age of five. Many scoff at this idea, reckoning that children so young couldn't possibly form a view that wasn't influenced by their parents. These will be the people who have never had to negotiate with an eight year old over bedtime or trying a new food or tidying their bedroom. The way to include children in the referendum vote would be through schools. Just as adults are uniquely identified on the electoral roll, so too are children registered individually as pupils, with legislation governing what information education authorities are required to gather about pupils in their area and how it must be kept safely and securely. Each child registered at school would vote in secret and place their votes in sealed ballot boxes, to be whisked away to the count. It would be great to have their votes counted separately from the adult poll, if only for anoraks like me to discern any demographic differences. Of course, children would need to be informed and educated on what is at stake. And what a project that would make! The Curriculum for Excellence is well geared to resourcing such activity. A central resource pack could be created by the Electoral Commission, giving children access to information about the choices on offer, what they mean and providing interactive materials for children to understand what is at stake. There are well established good practice methods and toolkits around for children's participation in decision-making. In fact, more of this sort of material should be made available for adults, particularly those with low literacy skills and learning difficulties. Using props, play and visual aids is a great way to learn. Even if the idea of Scotland's children actually voting in the independence referendum is an innovation too far, we should all do everything we can to include them in the debate and the process. The idea of a referendum project run in every school in the land in the run up to autumn 2014 still has merit. We adults who will get to vote should know what our children think and take cognisance of their views when casting our votes. For, just as the result of the referendum will determine Scotland's future, it will also determine that of our children. They will live with the consequence of our decision for far longer than we will. It's their destiny more than it is ours, in fact, and they have a right to have a say, as much, if not more than we do.

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Let all the bairns decide Scotland's future!

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