Educational success for children in public care: advice from a group of high achievers.
Research over the past 20 years has consistently shown that children in public care fall behind at school, seldom achieve good qualifications, and are much less likely than their peers to go on to further or higher education. However, a small minority of looked-after children do well academically. T...
| Published in: | Child & Family Social Work Vol. 7; no. 2; pp. 121 - 131 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | research Journal Article |
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Wiley-Blackwell
May2002
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=106953224&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 106953224 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 13567500 ETB jtl: Child & Family Social Work issn: 13567500 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: May2002 vid: 7 iid: 2 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell place: Malden, Massachusetts artinfo: ui: 106953224 106953224 2002089549 10.1046/j.1365-2206.2002.00240.x 106953224 ppf: 121 ppct: 10 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Educational success for children in public care: advice from a group of high achievers. aug: au: Martin PY Jackson S affil: Senior Research Officer, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia sug: subj: Academic Achievement Trends Child Day Care Trends Child Welfare Orphans and Orphanages Trends Foster Home Care Trends Survey Research Semi-Structured Interview Stereotyping Support, Psychosocial In Infancy and Childhood Child Adolescence Adult Male Female Human Child: 6-12 years Adolescent: 13-18 years Adult: 19-44 years Male Female ab: Research over the past 20 years has consistently shown that children in public care fall behind at school, seldom achieve good qualifications, and are much less likely than their peers to go on to further or higher education. However, a small minority of looked-after children do well academically. This paper examines the opinions of 38 high-achieving young people who spent at least a year in residential or foster care on what they think are the best ways to enhance the educational experience of looked-after children. An evaluation of four key questions from a semistructured interview highlighted the importance of foster carers, residential workers, social workers and teachers in providing support and encouragement for academic achievement. On the other hand, many of these individuals emphasized their dislike of being singled out by the teacher. A third of the participants believed that negative stereotypes and low expectations of children in care among professionals and care providers were major obstacles to their educational success. Over half the sample reported that in many childrens homes basic necessities such as books, a desk and a quiet place to do homework were lacking. In addition their opportunity to engage in outside interests and hobbies was severely limited. By contrast, for these individuals foster care had provided better opportunities. On entering higher education the majority of the participants had faced severe problems. They stressed the need for continuing financial support and adequate year-round accommodation, because, unlike most students, these care leavers usually have no parental home to return to during university vacations. A third of participants also felt a strong desire for a guardian angel to support and encourage them during their time at university. The paper concludes that the views of these thoughtful and resilient individuals should be taken very seriously and translated into improvements in policy and practice. Official guidance now highlights the importance of education for looked-after children, but changing attitudes and priorities at ground level presents a major challenge. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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