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A Different Class? Educational Attainment: the views and experiences of looked after young people

Improving the Education of Looked After Young People

What the young people tell us…

154 of the young people taking part in the consultation exercise responded to the question "What else could be done to improve education for looked after young people?"

The majority of recommendations made by the participants are applicable to all school settings; however some recommendations are specific to residential schools, as well as to individual young people. Looking firstly at the more general recommendations there is a broad level of consensus amongst the young people as to what needs to happen to improve their education.

The main areas for improvement as identified by the young people include,

• Increased number of teachers and support staff.
• Increased participation and choice by young people.
• Greater understanding from teaching staff of the difficulties faced by looked after young people.
• Smaller class sizes.
• Increased learning resources in the classroom.
• Financial rewards.
• Effective tackling of bullying.

The first key area identified by the young people is a familiar resource issue. 13% of respondents to this question recommended more teachers, tutors and support staff. The reasons behind the recommendations illustrate the different needs of individual young people as presented below.

The young people for whom staff resourcing was an issue ranged in age from 7 - 17 years old and were representative of various type of care settings, indicating that this is not an issue specific to one group of looked after young people.

Interestingly increased participation and choice was an area of particular concern for young people aged 13 - 16 years old. This may be indicative of younger children accepting what they are told from people in authority, as opposed to having a say in their education. However the comments listed below reflect the level of frustration felt by young people who feel they have little or no say in an important area of their lives.

14% of the young people referred to a lack of understanding on behalf of teaching staff of the difficulties faced by young people in care. This was therefore for those participants the key improvement required to better their education. The desire for an increased awareness of the issues by all staff was tempered only by a wish that within the school setting there was one key member of staff who was aware of a young person's specific situation.

An interesting aspect of this 14% of young people is that the majority describe themselves as not attending education. Throughout this section, and looking at all the recommendations made by the young people, it is only here that non attenders are in the majority. It could therefore be argued that the attitude of teaching staff has a greater correlation to disengagement than the other areas identified.

Significantly, a smaller class size was an area for improvement recommended by a majority of males living in residential units. In total 8% of the young people felt this would help their education.

It is perhaps unsurprising that across the care settings, it is young people who manage to maintain full time education who recognise the need for extra learning resources in the classroom.

5% of the young people felt that financial rewards would help to improve their education. Whilst a few of these participants were aged 14 years their requests for money appeared to be related to their desire to wider opportunities, perhaps to be more like their friends.

However the remainder of the respondents were older and their requests for financial assistance mirrored assistance that " other" young people are entitled to.

The final general recommendation made by the young people was for more effective measures to reduce bullying. From the data, it is clear that bullying is more of an issue for young people aged 14-16 years old, however it may be that younger children feel that when they have a problem with bullying it is dealt with more effectively.

From the information given by the young people it is clear that their insight is extremely valuable, and their recommendations for improvements are not beyond the scope of those in authority.

However, a number of the participants were unsure as to what improvements would make a real difference to the education of looked after young people. Equally a small number 5% felt there was " nothing" which could help. This group can be further divided into two sub groups; those for whom nothing was a positive statement and those for whom it was negative.

For example, one young person felt they had a positive educational experience and therefore that no improvements are required, as summed up below.

Yet, for others the opposite is true. Such was their disillusionment with the education system that they saw no hope for improvement.

As previously mentioned, some of the recommendations by the respondents were specific to residential schools. The most common of these improvements relates to the quality and quantity of subjects and is described below.

Perhaps, as one might expect there were a number of very individual comments made by young people which are nonetheless valuable for being individual. They are recorded here.

Some comments made by the young people are concerning as they indicate a willingness on their behalf to improve their educational opportunities and experience, yet it appears little regard has been paid to their wishes.

If there is to be any value in exercises such as this consultation, we must start listening to the views of young people, and the value of listening to them must be appreciated at all levels of the care and education sectors.

Conclusion

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