Who Takes Care of Education? Looked after children's perceptions of support for educational progress

Abstract

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.

In, out and after care: Young adults' views on their lives, as children, in a therapeutic residential establishment

“…I took some stupid stuff. (Patrick,20) The experiences of our interviewees appears to be similar to LAC more generally, for while some of these latter children recount a positive experience of school (McParlin and Shotton 1998), most disclose to having found this aspect of their lives difficult (Harker, Dobel-Ober, Lawrence, Berridge and Sinclair, 2003;Jackson and Sachdev, 2001). This is especially unfortunate for children in TCHs, given that they may have had had particularly disadvantaged educational careers (Gallagher, Brannan, Jones and Westwood, 2004).…”

“…The third major factor raised in the literature -but not in our research -is the instability of the care system and the effect this has upon educational stability (Happer, McCreadie and Aldgate, 2006;McAuley and Bunting, 2006). Other researchers have distinguished a whole series of more specific factors that can contribute towards LAC's negative experience at school (Francis, 2008;Harker, Dobel-Ober, Lawrence, Berridge and Sinclair, 2003;MacLean and Gunion, 2003). Harker et al, for instance, cite mid-term arrival, uncomfortable questions from other children and having to cope with on-going emotional distress.…”

Children in Out of Home Care: Should we give them a Fair Go?

“…Social workers and guardians saw education as somebody else's business (Fletcher-Campbell & Hall, 1990). Children in care, themselves, believed that improvements in their education came because of encouragement and support provided by their care placements (Harker, Dobel-Ober, Lawrence, Berridge, & Sinclair, 2003;Lynes & Goddard, 1995).…”

Adversity, resilience and the educational progress of young people in public care

“…I suppose I was a bit weird really 'cos some people don't want to get up in the morning to go, but I was the opposite, first one in and never used to want to come home in the end. (16-year-old in foster care quoted in Harker et al, 2003) In addition, school may provide a preventive 'connection to normalcy' according to young people and key informants interviewed in a major study of running away behaviour by young people in care in the state of Illinois (Courtney et al, 2005).…”