Most children in state care do not do as well in school as their peers, but the period of leaving care and transition to adulthood may offer a ‘turning point’ for positive change. Based on a small study of care leavers in England, this article employs the concept of resilience to explore the significance of supportive relationships in enabling this group of young people to make decisions about their future and encouraging them to overcome setbacks in educational attainment.

Little consideration has been given to the factors which motivate children to take up music tuition, or their reasons for giving up. In part, this is a reflection of the limited extent to which children have been consulted directly in relation to issues exclusively affecting them. This study considered opportunity and motivation for young people taking up music tuition, and the most influential factors in their decisions to discontinue. Young people aged 13Á14 were surveyed by means of questionnaires to 33 schools in one English local authority. The findings highlight key issues in relation to equality of access and gender differences in take up and discontinuation. Analysis confirms a sharp increase in discontinuation rates on transition to secondary school. The most commonly cited reasons for discontinuation are considered, together with the relative importance of family and peer support amongst this age group.

Looked after children continue to perform poorly at school compared to their peers and care leavers are at increased risk of unemployment and poverty. Although there is a growing body of research on their education and recent studies have identified the factors associated with successful educational outcomes, less attention has been paid to whether, and if so how, the majority of children finishing Key Stage 41 with disappointing qualifications may be supported to make up any educational deficit beyond compulsory school-leaving age (currently 16 in the UK). Care leavers can exhibit remarkable resilience and leaving care may be an opportunity for positive change. Jennifer Driscoll reports on a small pilot study which explored young people's own accounts and explanations in relation to their educational experiences and attainment, together with their attitudes to and engagement with education, particularly with regard to their aspirations and motivation to persevere with it. The challenges for schools in providing support to young people who are notoriously self-reliant and resistant to accepting help are considered in the context of current tensions in educational policy.

Purpose Information sharing and joint working between agencies undertaking direct work with children have long been recognised as fundamental to robust and effective safeguarding and child protection arrangements. The public health response to Covid-19 disrupted those arrangements abruptly. This study aims to identify some of the innovative practices that have been implemented and how responses might inform planning for multi-agency working in the future. Design/methodology/approach This study presents reflections on preliminary fieldwork from a study of how agencies in London are responding to the challenges for multi-agency safeguarding arrangements created by the Covid-19 measures. It draws on the experience of expert practitioners in the research team as well as interviews with 17 senior professionals from local authorities, safeguarding partnerships and health. Findings The study participants endorsed known concerns around increased risks to children and raised new concerns about particular groups of children that under normal circumstances would not have been at risk. They identified some unexpected benefits derived from new arrangements, especially in relation to engagement with remote working. Originality/value Early insights are offered into promising initiatives to preserve strong multi-agency arrangements in crises and strengthen the resilience of the child protection system.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to consider possible implications of recent policy initiatives in schools and local government for child safeguarding practice in education settings in the state sector in England. Design/methodology/approach -Recent policy changes to promote devolution of decision-making to school and local government level are analysed in the light of the literature on multi-agency working for the protection of children. Findings -The paper highlights the complexity of the current context in which local arrangements for the safeguarding of children are operating. This includes efforts at integration of funding and structures, coupled with rapid changes in policy in both education and children's social care and greater decision-making powers at local level. Together this makes it difficult to evaluate the current strengths of safeguarding arrangements between schools and other local agencies to help ensure that arrangements for the safeguarding of children in "independent" state schools are robust and effective. Research limitations/implications -Researchers and policy-makers need to consider the efficacy of safeguarding arrangements under new local government and integrated structures in England. Practical implications -There is relatively little research addressing inter-organisational information exchange in relation to education professionals involved in safeguarding. This paper sets out some directions for inquiry, including specific priorities that may be useful to the research and practice communities in the context of integration. Originality/value -The paper provides a summary of key policies and strategies that inform child protection in state school settings in England.

covid-19 and the resulting “lockdown” and social distancing measures significantly disrupted the mechanisms by which child maltreatment may be identified or disclosed and children’s voices in relation to their protection are heard. This paper reports on the first stage of a multi-disciplinary study in which 67 interviews were undertaken with strategic and operational leads in all professions with child protection responsibilities from 24 London boroughs in June to early September 2020. Findings highlight disruptions to communication pathways caused by redeployment and the closure of universal and early help services, and concerns about the effectiveness and safety of distanced interactions. Innovations in practice to overcome these challenges are reported, including risk reevaluation exercises, keeping in touch strategies and online innovations. Lundy’s model of participation rights is employed to identify lessons for addressing the invisibility of some groups of children, enhancing access to and quality of communication, and embedding responsibility for listening to children.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -There has been little research on the education of looked after children over the current school leaving age of 16, although the underperformance of this cohort at Key Stage 4 (age 14-16) has been the subject of considerable academic commentary. This paper aims to contribute to understanding of the ways in which looked after young people nearing the end of compulsory education can be supported and encouraged to continue in education and training. Design/methodology/approach -Interviews were undertaken with 12 designated teachers for looked after children and four virtual school heads, as part of the first stage of a three-year longitudinal study following 20 looked after children in England from years 11-13 (ages 15-18). Findings -Participants identified particular challenges in ensuring a successful educational transition for looked after young people in year 11 and expressed concern at the cumulative effect of multiple transitions at this stage on young people's lives. There appears, however, to be an increasing focus on and commitment to giving young people a "second chance" to acquire qualifications commensurate with their potential post-16. The comparative advantages and disadvantages of school and further education colleges for this cohort at Key Stage 5 are considered. Practical implications -The implications of the forthcoming extension of the school leaving age for professionals supporting looked after young people post-16 are discussed. Originality/value -The designated teacher for looked after children became a statutory role in 2009, and to date there has been little research on the role of these professionals, or the work of virtual schools.

Para social workers (PSWs) are widely used in African nations to address inadequate capacity in the professional workforce, but there is to date very little academic commentary on the effectiveness of their role. This article considers the potential efficacy of the PSW model in strengthening child protection at community level in Uganda. Twenty interviews were conducted with local government officers, civil society organisation staff and PSWs (10 in each of 2 rural areas), together with four supplementary expert interviews. The data were analysed using a framework of community resilience. The findings suggest that the model has considerable potential to strengthen community-level protection of children in circumstances in which the operation of formal systems is limited by resource constraints and outside interventions may struggle to gain understanding and acceptance within communities. Challenges include the potential for conflicts of interest to arise and the implications of increased reporting of child maltreatment for the response of the formal child protection system, including alternative care arrangements. Given its widespread and developing usage, further research to understand the conditions under which the PSW model is most effective and sustainable in different social, economic, political and cultural contexts is essential. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGES: • PSWs can provide significant additional capacity to community-level child protection arrangements at little cost in a culturally appropriate fashion. • A key strength of the PSW model lies in its potential to regenerate community resources through the engagement of community members. • Developing sustainable community-based child protection arrangements requires that attention is paid to balancing fiscal considerations against community ownership and also the response of the formal child protection system to increased reporting of child maltreatment.