Children and young people are often the target group of road safety ETP interventions and are equally often expected to benefit from ETP interventions, so it is important that the effects of the intervention on them are also considered in evaluation. This is a complex area and one where you might like to get expert advice. However there are some important considerations below which you should consider.
Special care needs to be taken to ensure that children's rights are respected if they are to be involved in evaluation research. All adults intending to work with children and young people should have appropriate DBS (previously known as CRB) checks [ England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland].
Children, like all people participating in research, should give informed consent to participate. This includes the use of photographs, drawings, questionnaires and other recording tools. In some cases children are considered too young to give informed consent and in these cases the consent of a parent may be sought before the child may participate. There is no fixed age at which children (up to the age of 16) are considered to be able to give informed consent as this depends of the ability of the individual child to understand what is expected of them, what the risks of involvement are and their right (e.g. to withdraw from the evaluation at any time). However, teachers and other adults working with the children should be able to help you to assess the competence of children and young people to give their consent. This advice will be based on the Fraser Guidelines which were developed to ensure children were able to access or refuse medical treatment without their parents being able to override their views. An article about the Fraser guidelines can be found on the website for the Children's Legal Centre.