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

Educational Attainment Money

Noticeable Improvement from the Recent Investment?

A key objective of the consultation was to establish whether looked after young people had noticed any improvement from the recent 10 million investment by the Scottish Executive. The resource allocation was based on the number of looked after young people in each local authority's area, with 500 allocated for each young person looked after in a community placement, and 2500 for young people in local authority or independent residential homes, residential schools or secure accommodation. In the distribution of the investment Local authorities were asked to adhere to the principle that the money should follow the child.

Whilst feedback from local authorities indicates that the investment was welcome and well spent, and information from carers and staff seems to support this, there is some question as to whether a random selection of young people feel the same.

Central to this point, is the issue of awareness of the investment. It is intrinsically difficult to recognise the benefit of an investment if you are unaware of it.

Table 12:

Awareness of Educational Attainment Money by Type of Care Placement.

• 58% of the respondents were unaware of the recent investment.

An important function of the recent investment was "to raise the educational attainment of looked after young people to meet their ambitions and abilities" " to close the opportunity gap" The majority of local authorities have reported (Improving the educational attainment of looked after children - Additional resources for 2001/2002, The Scottish Executive April, 2003) passing the funds directly to the residential school or home in question, or directly to carers after an application was submitted, as they would be best placed to decide how the money would be spent, ensuring that the spend catered to educational needs.

Local authorities have undoubtedly built on existing initiatives to develop a supportive infrastructure to improve the life chances of looked after young people. These actions have helped improve educational provision and increase the understanding and awareness of professionals of the particular difficulties faced by looked after young people. Whilst all of this is necessary and overdue in terms of individual needs and raising individual attainment, it is the case that the young people are well placed to have an input into how this can be achieved.

It appears that time constraints, placed on the distribution of funds, have restricted the level of consultation with young people on how they could best benefit from this investment. This is disappointing. The involvement of young people and their right to express their views on issues which affect them is enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. The Standards in Scotland's Schools etc Act 2000 describes the duty of education authority in providing school education. "…to secure that the education is directed to the development of the…young person to their fullest potential." Section 2 (2) states "In carrying out their duty under this section, an education authority shall have due regard so far as is reasonably practicable, to the views (if there is a wish to express them) of the child or young person in decisions that significantly affect that child or young person, taking account of the child or young person's age and maturity" It is clear from the data that the opportunity to involve all looked after young people in this way was not grasped.

Table 13:

Total numbers consulted on Educational Attainment Spend

If we look at the number of young people who had a say on the spending of the educational attainment money across the range of care settings, it is worth noting that the differences in levels of consultation do not vary considerably. This is particularly true when we consider the care settings which had a large number of young people represented in the sample. That is to say, if we look at the young people in foster care, residential units and residential schools, there is a consistency in the lack of consultation across these types of care. The breakdown of numbers of young people consulted is detailed in the table below.

Table 14:

Young People consulted on Educational Attainment Spend by Type of Care

Of the 38 young people reporting having a say on the spend, 34 confirmed the educational attainment money was spent in the way they had requested.

As previously mentioned, a key objective of the consultation was to establish whether looked after young people had noticed any improvement from the investment. The participants were therefore asked "Do you think this has helped you?" and "Do you think others have benefited from their money?"

Looking firstly at whether the young people themselves felt any direct benefit, their responses are highlighted below.

Table 15:

Total Numbers Reporting Benefit from the Educational Attainment Investment.

It is interesting to note that for some young people who felt no direct benefit themselves from the investment, there were still obvious benefits to others.

Table 16:

Total Numbers Reporting Benefit to Other Young People

• 44 young people felt that other young people had benefited from the investment, yet 18 of this number felt that they themselves had not benefited.

For those 72 young people who were aware of the investment, the majority, 51, were able to report what the money was spent on.

More than half, commented that the money was spent on PC's, laptops and associated equipment, such as programmes, CD-ROMs, printers etc.

The remaining young people described spending in 3 key areas; Specific lessons, practical resources and equipment and Educational trips. Examples of this expenditure are given below.

However, for some of the young people, the principle that the money should follow the child was clearly not adhered to. The young people in question were able to comment on the spending of the money, but reported disappointment as they appreciated that there would be no direct benefit for them, or in some cases, any other looked after young people.

Conclusion

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