Participation in Action: Children film their stories to tell teachers about life in care

Young people in foster care have created a film to help both teachers and other pupils understand what their lives are like. Bath & North East Somerset’s children in care council travelled to the National Union of Teachers (NUT) conference in Torquay last month to promote the film.

Entitled In Care, In School, it focuses on 10 scenarios based on real experiences of the looked-after children and young people represented on the council. These include the difficulty of writing autobiography assignments at school and designing Mother’s Day cards.

Kelvin and Naina Thomas, now aged 22 and 24, spent a day at the conference talking to teachers and other professionals about the film. Kelvin first entered care at the age of eight, and Naina at 12.

“It was good to be able to speak directly with teachers about these issues and how children in care actually feel,” Kelvin says. “We worked hard to try to bring them to everyone’s attention.”

The film was supported by education policy experts from Bath Spa University and Bath-based production company Suited & Booted Studio. The children worked with a professional scriptwriter and local actors and helped direct the filming.

“A lot of teachers are concerned to support young people in care but they are worried about getting it wrong,” Naina explains. “We hope our project will help to give them the confidence to address some of the issues involved, both inside and outside the classroom.”

Mike Gorman is head of Bath & North East Somerset Council’s virtual school, which works closely with the children in care council. “The project came about when we talked to children on the council about their experiences in school,” he says. “They told us it would be really helpful if other children and teachers understood more about what it was like to be in care. They wanted to tell others how they really felt. “We were clear from the start that the children in care council should set the pace and direction of the project. The film had to involve young people in care at every stage, avoid sensationalism and be rooted in their everyday experience of school.”

Class discussion
The film accompanies a training pack for school staff and a resource pack for use in personal, social, health and economics (PSHE) lessons to encourage class discussion.

The film and support materials have been piloted in three schools in Bath & North East Somerset and are being used by PGCE students from Bath Spa University in 48 primary and 10 secondary schools across the UK.

The project was jointly funded by Bath Spa University and the local authority, with additional support from the national PSHE Association, The Who Cares? Trust, Asdan, VisionWorks and the NUT.

Following a full evaluation of the resources, In Care, In School will be available for teachers to download for free from the autumn at www.bathspa.ac.uk.