This paper documents the views of a sample of 80 children and young people, aged 10–18 years, living in foster and residential care placements in England, regarding their educational experience whilst being looked after. The children were interviewed as part of an ongoing evaluation of the Taking Care of Education project, a development programme designed to facilitate improvements in the education of looked after children, co‐ordinated by the National Children's Bureau and funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. Interviews with the sample asked children to assess their current educational progress and identify individuals who supported or hindered their education, as well as the availability of educational support in care placements. Teaching staff were frequently mentioned as providers of support, whilst social workers were often associated with hindering educational progress. Children and young people had access to a range of educational supports in care placements, and these were more widely available in residential settings than in foster care. Children offered a range of pertinent suggestions as to how the educational experience of those in the public care system might be improved.

This article highlights work underway in three English local authorities to promote effective inter-agency collaboration around the education of looked after children. Insight drawn from these local authorities is used to review previous literature concerning interagency collaboration in a variety of contexts. The relevance of previous research to issues concerning the education of looked after children is discussed and key factors associated with effective collaboration are highlighted. Barriers which have served to obstruct joint working and strategies adopted to deal with these are also discussed. Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. IntroductionThe acknowledgement that different facets of children and young people's lives are inextricably related has led to increased calls for collaboration between different agencies working to address a range of social problems. One such problem is the low attainment, non-attendance and relatively high levels of school exclusion associated with looked after children , 2002a. The deprived pre-care backgrounds of many of these young people plays some part in explaining this poor academic achievement (Rutter, 2000) and almost a quarter of looked after children have a statement of special educational need (Department of Health, 2002b).However, the pre-care experiences and characteristics of looked after children cannot fully explain the underachievement of this group. Additional explanations highlight certain structural features of the care and education systems which can prevent the education of looked after children being prioritised. Key departments involved in looking after children are not always successful in adopting a corporate parenting approach and consequently fail to communicate effectively to share relevant information and coordinate services (Audit Commission, 1994; Borland and others, 1998;Roaf and Lloyd, 1995 2000), which emphasises the need to establish and enforce joint procedures and protocols to promote effective inter-agency collaboration.There is a body of research highlighting factors that support inter-agency work (Atkinson and others, 2002; Sloper and others, 1999;Stobbs, 1995;Webb and Vulliamy, 2001;Wigfall and Moss, 2001;Wilson and Charlton, 1997) and many of these are reflected in the joint guidance. This paper outlines what these supportive factors might be and illustrates their relevance, drawing on research in three English local authorities, to achieving collaboration around the education of looked after children.A number of terms are used to describe the ways in which different agencies, disciplines and professions attempt to work together. This can mean that it is unclear whether different commentators are referring to the same thing. Leathard (1994) suggests that the main variations in terminology stem from three, quite different, concepts:Association: inter/multi/trans Grouping: agency/sectoral/disciplinary/occupational/professional Focus of operations: integration/cooperation/collaboration/teamwork/work All possible combinations of these...

This paper represents a follow‐up publication to the findings of a previous paper by documenting the views of a follow‐up sample of 56 young people, aged 12–19 years, looked after in three English local authorities. Young people were interviewed on two separate occasions, 18 months apart, to assess their perceptions of educational progress and identify factors that might support or hinder their education. The interviews took place as part of an ongoing evaluation of the Taking Care of Education project, a development programme designed to facilitate improvements in the education of looked after children. Most young people were aware of individual project‐related activities and a number of these were seen to contribute towards educational progress. Perceptions of educational progress were significantly higher at follow‐up interview and an increased proportion of young people reported that being looked after had had a positive impact upon their education. Carers and teachers continued to be the most frequently mentioned providers of educational support, but the proportion of comments relating to educational support from social workers increased at follow‐up. The most consistent explanation given for improved educational progress was the availability of support and encouragement for educational progress and acknowledgement of young people's achievements.

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