Freedom of expression from the perspective of young people: between the recognized right and the ignored voice

Abstract

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and is recognised by various international conventions, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), which states in Article 12 that children have the right to freely express their opinion on matters that concern them and to have that opinion taken into account. For its part, UNESCO (Grizzle et al., 2021) recognises this as a value and attitude that can be developed and encouraged through the work of Media and Information Literacy. This is an essential right for personal development and collective self-determination (Garton Ash, 2017).
In this article, we analyse freedom of expression from the perspective of children and young people, seeking to understand how they conceptualize and value this fundamental right. The analysis is based on data from 31 focus groups with a total of 206 6th, 9th and 12th grade students attending schools in mainland Portugal. The results indicate that the respondents recognize the importance of freedom of expression for themselves and for society. However, they consider that, when it comes to expressing their opinions, they are free to do so, but very often these opinions are not heard or considered by adults and institutions, with the greatest criticism falling on the school. There is a disparity between recognizing the importance of freedom of expression and valuing and applying it in young people’s daily lives.

In this article, we analyse freedom of expression from the perspective of children and young people, seeking to understand how they conceptualize and value this fundamental right. The analysis is based on data from 31 focus groups with a total of 206 6th, 9th and 12th grade students attending schools in mainland Portugal. The results indicate that the respondents recognize the importance of freedom of expression for themselves and for society, however, they consider that, when it comes to expressing their opinions, they are free to do so, but very often these opinions are not heard or considered by adults and institutions, with the greatest criticism falling on the school. There is a disparity between recognizing the importance of freedom of expression and valuing and applying it in young people's daily lives.