Review: Improving Access to Further and Higher Education for Young People in Public Care

International perspective offers lessons for all

As an education director who became a children's services director, I was well attuned to the importance of education for all young people. As a corporate parent, I knew that a decent education was vital for children in care. But my light-bulb moment came when reading the Unicef research, referenced here, that found that whatever went wrong in a child's life, if they achieved good standards of education, their life outcomes were hugely improved.

So it was with interest that I came to this book, recording the EU-funded YiPPEE research programme, an in-depth study of education for children in care across five very different countries - Denmark, England, Hungary, Spain, and Sweden. While everyone who took part said they believed strongly that good educational outcomes were important for children in care and for society as a whole, there was a deep disconnect with what actually happened in practice.

Jackson and Cameron present a powerful and compelling analysis that spans social care and education, and analyse the factors that impact on outcomes. The country-based research teams considered local policy and interviewed children, young adults and support professionals. The focus was on young people who showed "educational promise" to explore why able children in care too often failed to benefit from higher education.

As so often with international research, there are similarities and deep differences between countries. The descriptions are fascinating, with unexpected contextual nuggets - in Spain, for example, the dominant pattern for public care is the extended family placement and in Hungary, there is a considerable emphasis on stability of placements, both educational and for social care. One sad observation: in all the countries, young adults who had been through care without engaging well with education had far fewer friends. And one heart-warming observation: almost all those who had succeeded reported that there had been a particular professional who had persistently encouraged and helped them.

In most of the countries, the lack of policy join-up is exacerbated by apparent ignorance of the issue. In Catalonia, the study itself started to drive political and leadership change - genuine action research. Even where there is official recognition of the issue, outcomes are not great, and only six per cent of children in care enter higher education. Perhaps the most surprising statistic was, remarkably, that figure of six per cent is consistent across all five countries studied.

This book makes evidenced proposals for improvement at country and European level, and for me there were strong resonances with experiences in all the countries. This book, the first to cover this subject in detail, should be read by all children's services policy makers, leaders and practitioners - and the lessons learned.

Reviewed by John Freeman, freelance consultant

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