ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some critical implications for young people's participation relevant across political and national boundaries drawing on the former UK government's Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF) to build all secondary schools in England and Wales through a strategic consultation and engagement approach. BSF was a long-term programme of investment to rebuild or renew all of England's state secondary schools. In exploring relevant BSF documents and wider policies, the rhetoric for inclusion and diversity in young people's involvement emerges strongly. Focusing on England's former Building Schools for the Future programme, the chapter comprises a cross-examination of power, politics and the rhetoric for diversity and inclusion in young people's participation in BSF, as represented in relevant policy and guidance documents. On a conceptual level, the chapter draws on childhood discourses, youth-related policies and critical literature around participation theory and practice, including children's and young people's participation in their schools, education, and communities, and related notions of power.
