Shout Out UK

Shout Out UK (SOUK) is a non-partisan social enterprise, based in the United Kingdom. Its mission is to strengthen democracy by providing training and programmes on Media Literacy & Political literacy.

Shout Out UK (SOUK)
Founded2015, London, United Kingdom
FocusPolitical literacy, media literacy, student journalism, student government, youth empowerment
Location
  • London, United Kingdom
Area served
United Kingdom
MethodEdTech, Education, Youth Voice
Key people
Matteo Bergamini (CEO)
Websiteshoutoutuk.org

Shout Out UK was formed in August 2015 by Matteo Bergamini, whilst studying at Brunel University in Uxbridge. Shout Out UK have gained media attention for running the 2015 Youth Leaders' Debate, in partnership with Channel 4 and their collaboration with UK Drill artist Drillminister to encourage young people to vote in the 2019 General Election. The New Statesman have named Shout Out UK's Political Literacy course as one methods of reviving political education in the UK.[1]

Youth leaders' debate

Shout Out UK gathered all of the youth leaders of the seven major British political parties in one place to debate politics and youth issues in front of a studio audience and Live-streamed through All4,[2][3] an online platform owned by Channel 4 News on the 28th April 2015.[4] The project was in partnership with Channel 4 News and received UK wide coverage.[5][6][7][8][9]

The Youth Leaders Debate, hosted by Fatima Manji from Channel 4 News, differed from the main 2015 leaders' Debate by introducing buzzers. Seven themes were presented to the panellists, each had one chance to 'buzz in' and have one minute protected time for one question only.[10] Representatives from all the major UK political parties took part in the debate.[11]

Political literacy

After winning a local business competition called 'The Harrow Business Den 2016'.[12] Shout Out UK's work shifted to Media Literacy & Political literacy training programmes in schools and colleges.

Shout Out UK's Political literacy course covers an Introduction to the Politics of the United Kingdom, International Relations (including brief overviews of the European Union, NATO and United Nations), Media Literacy, debating and public speaking.[13][14][15] The course ends with a Speech Night, during which students deliver speeches on issues they are passionate about in front of their parents/carers and local/regional/national politicians hosted at the school.[16] The organisation aims to enhance students’ ability to influence local policymaking, to engage in activism and to build their overall Emotional Resilience and Confidence.[17][18][19]

With the decline of citizenship education and no GCSE on Government and Politics, the political literacy course was noted by journalists at the New Statesman and National Student as signaling a revival of political education in schools.[20][21] Shout Out UK was awarded the Harrow Business Den award in 2016.[22] Due to its work in schools, Shout Out UK's founder Matteo Bergamini was asked to give oral evidence to the House of Lords Citizenship and Civic Engagement Committee, alongside Voter Registration charity Bite The Ballot that led to the report 'The Ties that Bind'.[23]

National democracy week

On the 5th July 2018, Shout Out UK ran an event to ‘hack’ the problem Parliament has with the lack of representation of women, particularly those who are BAME or LGBTQ+. Despite 2018 marking the centenary of some women being allowed to vote, only 32 per cent of the House of Commons identifying as female that year.[24]

The event was hosted by Alexis Wieroniey, an American comedian and women's rights activist. Speakers included Milly Evans; founder of Our Progress Project, Valerie Vaz, the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons and Andrea Leadsom the then leader of the House of Commons.[25][26]

PoliFest 2019

On June 25, Shout Out UK hosted #PoliFest, a festival bringing together politicians and young people to play sports and debate politics at Brunel University. PoliFest aimed to bring politicians and young people together through playing sport and to break down the barriers between Britain's youth and the ‘Westminster Bubble’.[27] The event was attended by both young people and politicians from across different political parties, including MPs Johnny Mercer, Nigel Huddleston and Tom Brake amongst others.[28][29][30]

#NoVoteNoVoice & Political Drillin

For the 2019 General Election, Shout Out UK partnered with Drillminister, a UK Drill music artist who first appeared on Channel 4 News for his track entitled 'Political Drillin'.[31] Drillminister and Shout Out UK created a campaign, entitled #NoVoteNoVoice, to encourage young people to register to vote and ultimately vote. The collaboration involved the creation of a track and music video entitled 'Peoples Vote'. The track was released on the YouTube channel Mixtap Madness.[32] It later featured on SBTV and UniLad Sound.[33]

The project ended with a concert held at Fairfield hall in Croydon on the final night before voter registration closed. That day it was estimated that over 600,000 people registered to vote, including over 250,000 under 25s.[34]

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References
  1. "The strange neglect of political education - and how to revive it". New Statesman.
  2. "Youth Leaders Debate". Channel 4.
  3. "Youth Leaders Debate". Shout Out UK.
  4. "Youth Leaders Debate". Channel 4.
  5. "Channel 4 Streams the First Ever 'Youth Leaders Debate' - And It's About Time!". HuffPost.
  6. "Can You Guess Who Said What At The Youth Leaders' Debate?". Grazia.
  7. "Youth Leaders Debate to stream on All 4". Royal Television Society.
  8. "General Election 2015: Next up for a TV debate - the parties' youth leaders". Independent.
  9. "Channel 4's Youth Leaders Debate (2015)". IMDB.
  10. "The Youth Leaders' Debate: A new voice for the 2015 General Election". LSE.
  11. "Youth Leaders' Debate - Profiles". Channel 4.
  12. "Stanmore Business and Innovation Centre are congratulating one of their customer for winning Harrow Business Den 2016". West London Business.
  13. "Most people think politics should replace religious studies in schools, poll shows". TES.
  14. "Survey 92 think political education should be compulsory in schools". TES.
  15. "Politics but not as we know it". The Times Red Box.
  16. "Political Literacy Course at CamVC". Cambourne VC.
  17. "Political literacy course introduced at Stanmore school in light of EU referendum". Harrow Times.
  18. "Teach political literacy in schools to avoid the ignorance of 2016". The Times.
  19. "Political Literacy: An End To Apathy?". Huff Post.
  20. "The strange neglect of political education - and how to revive it". New Statesman.
  21. "Renewed calls for politics to become part of the school curriculum". The National Student.
  22. "First political literacy course run by Harrow Business Den winners completed at Stanmore secondary". Harrow Times.
  23. "The Ties that Bind:Citizenship and Civic Engagement in the 21st Century" (PDF). The House of Lords.
  24. "Women in Parliament and Government". The House of Commons.
  25. "Andrea Leadsom Talks About #WomenInPolitics Hackathon". Youtube.
  26. "We Need More Women In Politics". Youtube.
  27. "PoliFest". London Live.
  28. "PoliFest 2019 event for Youth Participation". Nigel Huddleston.
  29. "Tom Brakes Political Barriers at #Polifest". Tom Brake.
  30. "PoliFest, The Youth Political Sports Festival". WinkBall.
  31. "Drill Artist or MP?". Channel 4 News.
  32. "#RegisterToVote Drillminister - Peoples Vote (Music Video)". Mixtap Madness.
  33. "Drillminister Encourages Young People To Register To Vote". UniLad Sound.
  34. "Voter Registration Dashboard". UK Government.
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