Pushing for Change: Youth and Political Participation Figure 3.1  Hart’s ladder of participation The Ladder of Participation 8. Youth-initiated shared decisions with adults 7. Youth-initiated and directed 6. Adult-initiated shared decisions with young people Degrees of participation 5. Consulted and informed 4. Assigned but informed 3. Tokenism Non-participation 2. Decoration 1. Manipulation Eight levels of young people's participation. The ladder metaphor is borrowed from Sherry Arnstein (1969): the categories are from Roger Hart. Source: Ashenden 2013. \ 69