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Learning with Care:
The education of children looked after away from home by Local Authorities

Appendix 3

Key Policy Issues

The following range of key issues was referred to in local authority policies.

• Roles and responsibilities of managers, schools, social work area teams, social workers, teachers and carers.
• Consultation with, and involvement of, parents covering their legal rights and necessary consents.
• Consultation with, and involvement of, children.
• Information exchange, including that required by Regulation 7 of the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations, 1996, and confidentiality.
• Continuity of education, transport arrangements and procedures in relation to changes of school.
• Assessment, including psychological assessment, care and education planning and reviews of the care plan.
• Monitoring and improving pupils' attainments in classwork and examinations.
• Monitoring and reducing non-attendance and exclusions.
• Placements in residential schools and their funding.
• Roles of specialist post holders e.g. home-school link workers.
• Meeting racial, religious, linguistic and cultural needs.
• Anti-stereotyping or discrimination against looked after children.
• Likely difficulties of looked after children in school and the reasons for them.
• Joint teacher and social worker training.
• Post-school/post-looked after provision including funding for further and higher education arrangements and the vacations from such arrangements.
• Relationships with other policies and procedures.

The content of this report has shown that almost all of these issues require attention, although not all of them will need attention in all authorities.

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