Educating Children in Residential and Foster Care

Abstract

Among the many disadvantages suffered by children looked after by local authorities, low educational achievement probably has the most serious consequences for their future life chances. This article reviews research over nearly twenty years which consistently shows that children in residential and foster care fall progressively behind those living with their own families and leave school with few qualifications, if any. Until recently child-care agencies and social workers have shown little interest in the educational progress of children for whom they are responsible. Findings from a study of young people previously in care who have been educationally successful confirm that education is crucially important for the quality of their adult life. However, this and other consumer studies indicate that at present the care system is more likely to put additional obstacles in their way than to make any particular effort to compensate for their earlier disadvantages. It is suggested that local authorities and their social workers need to give the same degree of primacy to education as do well-informed parents looking after their own children. Some promising new approaches aim to address the problem at different levels: structural, attitudinal and practical.

Improving foster children’s school performance: a replication of the Helsingborg study

“…Instruments used in the psychological assessment were WISC-IV for intellectual ability (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children -fourth edition; Wechsler, 2003), Beck Youth scales for emotional status (Beck, Beck & Jolly 2004), ABAS-II (Adaptive Behavior Assessment System-II) for adaptive behaviour, SDQ parent and SDQ teacher for general strengths and difficulties (Goodman, 1997;Smedje et al, 1999), and a visual analogue scale (Badia et al, 1999) to assess pupil-teacher relation. We also used DLS (Järpsten, 1999(Järpsten, , 2002(Järpsten, , 2004 (Järpsten and Taube, 1997) for assessing reading and writing skills, DLSM for reading comprehension, "Reading chains" for assessment of verbal and reading fluency (Jacobsson, 2001) and the Olof Magne mathematical diagnostic tests to assess numeracy performance (Engström and Magne, 2006). All instruments have been standardized for Swedish child populations, with the exception of the visual analogue scale (Badia et al, 1999) for assessment of teacher-pupil relation.…”

Úspěšnost dětí z dětských domovů v sekundárním a terciárním vzdělávání – Porovnání pohledu klientů a jejich vychovatelů

“…Významným problémem ve vztahu ke školní úspěšnosti je i to, že tito klienti mají silnější sklony ke zpochybňování sebe sama (Jackson, 1994;Matějček, 1994;Ptáček et al, 2011). Můžeme odvozovat, že nízké sebehodnocení může být jednou z příčin nižší školní úspěšnosti.…”

“…Můžeme odvozovat, že nízké sebehodnocení může být jednou z příčin nižší školní úspěšnosti. Za jednu z překážek v jejich studijních úspěších klienti označují nízká očekávání ze strany vychovatelů, rodičů nebo učitelů (Martin & Jackson, 2002;Jackson, 1994).…”

El proceso de transición a la vida adulta de jóvenes acogidos en el sistema de protección infantil. Revisión de la investigación y respuestas.

“…Numerosos estudios han puesto de manifiesto las dificultades que afrontan los jóvenes en protección para obtener buenos resultados en el contexto escolar (Altshuler, 1997;Biehal et al, 1995;Blome, 1997;Casas y Montserrat, 2009;Casas, Montserrat y Malo, 2010;Cheung y Heath, 1994;Cook, 1994;Courtney et al, 2001;Dixon y Stein, 2005;Inglés, 2005;Jackson, 1994;Stein, 1994). En nuestro país Moreno, García-Baamonde y Blázquez (2010) han constatado el fracaso escolar en acogimiento residencial, relacionándolo con problemas del desarrollo del lenguaje.…”