Hearing room language animation wins gold award
A film commissioned by Children’s Hearings Scotland and the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) about language used in the Children’s Hearings System has won a gold award at the Scottish Design Awards.
The three-minute 'Articulate' animation, co-produced by the Language Leaders group which CHS is part of, Our Hearings, Our Voice (OHOV) and SCRA, and developed by Braw Talent, explains why the words used in hearings matter to children and young people. It took top prize in the Design for Good category.
Language in the hearings system
By showcasing real stories, Articulate explains how Panel Members can choose language to better put young people at the centre of their hearings. This includes not using complex words and acronyms when they are not needed and personalising language for each child, for instance by using first names of children, parents and carers.
The film is voiced and co-written by OHOV Board members, young people with lived experience of the hearings system. It was launched in May 2024 by CHS, OHOV and SCRA. Young people developed the film across three sessions of script writing and recording, supported by CHS’s Participation Coordinator Angela Phillips.
The Braw Talent team collect the Design for Good Award.
Our four language principles
Alongside Articulate, CHS and SCRA launched language guides to support the participants in hearings: CHS’s Language in the hearing room and SCRA’s Language that Cares. Both are based on four principles of language agreed upon by the Language Leaders: that language should be personalised, be balanced, be non-stigmatising and should make the child feel involved in their hearing.
The guides are not lists of words to avoid. Instead, they are learning tools supporting adults to consider the words they use to empower children and young people to fully take part in their hearings.
Articulate is now also used in online training delivered to education staff by Education Scotland, and to multi-agency staff by NHS Education for Scotland.
“This is excellent news. The real highlight of this work is the way Brawtalent, CHS, and SCRA worked with young people from OHOV to co-produce this animation. There was a real sense of partnership working and shared endeavour throughout the production.
The language used in children’s hearings can have a lasting impact on children and is one practice area that young people ask us to prioritise. The animation is so powerfulpowerful, and the young people should be so proud of this award. Without their participation this would not have been possible.”
– Stephen Bermingham, Practice and Standards Manager, Children’s Hearings Scotland
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