Who are "young people"?

[JustPassingThyme]

When you hear someone say "young people" who do you think they are referring to? Personally, when I hear the phrase "young people" I think of 18 to 25 year olds.

I have heard the phrase "young people" quite a few times now. It's always used by ether teachers, or government and media types.

They often use it in conjunction with children, so they say, "children and young people are ...". Teachers at secondary schools will refer to their pupils as young people.

So, is young people the new PC code word for teenagers? Why the change? Why is an 11 year old at the end of year 6 a child, but 3 months later at the start of year 7 a young person? Something about that just doesn't feel right.

In my book anyone under 18 is a child and should really be referred to as such. If a differentiation must be made, use teenager, because everyone still understands that teenagers are children.

@JustPassingThyme I’m a mental health nurse. In mental health services, we refer to anyone who is Gillick competent and who is therefore able to consent to or refuse treatment legally without parental knowledge or consent as a “young person”. This is particularly the case in inpatient treatment where young people may have their own legal representation or social services input separate from their parents, as well as accessing mental health treatment completely independently. Yes, they may still technically be children but it is almost impossible to force a 14 year old, say, to do anything they don’t want to do-they have the right to choose where they live and where they attend school. They also have the right to appeal detention under the mental health act and have the right to their own legal representation and the right to instruct them. In this sense, a Gillick competent young person is very much not a child and so the distinction has to be made. Schools, and so teachers, sit at the edge of this world and have some contact with the other professionals within it, which is why they use the same language.

You are sounding ridiculous now.

Why is there a culture at schools of treating children, actual 11 year olds, as if they are adults?

No-one is. They are acknowledging that the 14 - 18 yr olds are at a very different stage of their development, from even the KS3 pupils. At this stage of their development, teens are finding their way in the world. Hormones are all over the place. Self esteem is often pretty low. Confidence is often pretty low as they work out who they are, what their values are, and what is important in life. Infantising them isn't going to help anyone.

If we follow the logic that 11-19 year olds are young people, then services for those aged 20 and older should start referring to their services users as old people. What about not so young but not yet old people? Middle aged people for 25-35 year olds? Decrepit people for services for anyone age 50 or above? Ancient ones for anyone over pension age?

This just makes you sound daft.

Why is this bothering you so much ?

Ex teacher.

child protection has changed name to safeguarding now and it’s safeguarding children and young people.

often abbreviated to CYP.

the young people bit has been added because now it includes people over 18 who are considered vulnerable.

people who have an EHCP can continue in education until age 25 at which point they are clearly not a child.

”the” document that everyone works from,
Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) now refers throughout to CYP.

Agreed, OP, young people to me means 18-25.

People are talking about fiction but in films and games there’s clearly a 15-18 category of people who are not children in the sense they need their parents to take them to see the film but are not fully independent adults either.
IMO the same age bracket applies to sex education and healthcare and drugs education. It does nobody any favours to treat a 16 year old like a primary age child in terms of consent for example.