OPINION: Howard Wiliamson - Better to care too much or not enough?

One of my first student jobs, back in the 1970s, was in a children's home. We made efforts to encourage and cajole the children to go to school but, with those who were reluctant and resistant, those efforts were often in vain. We could walk the younger children to school but the teenagers simply shut themselves in their bedrooms or diverted to the park. Many years later, I did some research that included talking to young people in children's homes. I recall one young woman saying nobody could force her to go to school although she wished they could, and would. "They're handing life to me on a golden platter, but life's not like that, is it," she said. Then, when the Education Select Committee was examining "disaffection from school" it encountered the horrific statistic that some three-quarters of looked-after children leave school with no qualifications. At the same time, the Health Select Committee was examining looked-after children and arrived at the same point. It led to an historic joint meeting of the two committees at which the then education secretary, David Blunkett, was put through a grilling. To his credit, he conceded the dire situation and undertook to address it. I guess the SEU report is a belated outcome of that promise.