Professor Sonia Jackson and Dr Claire Cameron

1. Beyond care: pathways through Education in EuropeA journey without mapshttp:/tcru.ioe.ac.uk/yippee

2. Professor Sonia Jacksonand Dr Claire Cameron

3. Project partners England: Institute of Education, University of London (Coordinator) Sweden: Göteborg University (Social Work & Education) Denmark: Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus Spain: Research Institute on Quality of Life, University of Girona Hungary: Institute for Social Policy and Labour, Budapest

4. Project Aims To track the educational pathways of young men and women in public care after the end of compulsory schooling To examine how more of them might be encouraged and supported to continue into further and higher education To compare different systems and experiences in five European countries

5. Legal age of leaving and time in school

6. Research Methods • Literature reviews • Analysis of statistics • Surveys: national and local area studies • Interviews with social services, care managers and educators (76) • Screening telephone interviews (366) • Intensive face to face interviews with 170 young men and women aged 18-24 and nominated adults

7. ‘It’s up to me’ … yeah, it’s up to me to do it…. I’ve wanted to give up so many times but I haven’t. … I have to do it myself…I don’t really rely on (other) people. I prefer to do it myself. … I say nothing (is) going to stop me studying … .I know I’ve got a brain in my head, and I know if I put my mind to it I can do anything

9. Forms of placement in five countries 9

10. Educational attainment in 2009 (England)

11. Young people who have been in care are much less likely than other young people to continue in education at Upper Secondary or Tertiary level: 13 percent in Sweden 3 percent in Denmark 6 percent in Hungary 9 percent in England Spain - nobody knows All young people: 80-90% (OECD figures) Continuing in education

12. Obstacles to inclusion • Family background • Disruptions to schooling and lack of basic skills • Disputes between services • Moves in care and school placements • Lack of encouragement in care environment • Low expectations and poor guidance • Financial difficulties

13. Transition to adulthood • The age of leaving care is (16-19) is much lower than the average age of leaving home (24/25) • Most young people in or leaving care have to worry about economic survival and accommodation at a far earlier age than others • Keeping house on a low income makes it hard to focus on learning • Independent living and early entry to workforce are in tension with continuing education

14. Policy issues • Invisibility of young people in public care • Divisions between services • Linking of entitlement to chronological age • Welfare regulations discouraging educational participation • Special problems relating to asylum-seekers

15. Identify young people in care and care leavers specifically in all reviews and policy documents relating to disadvantaged youth Collect comparative statistics annually at national and local levels Join up care and education services Employ teachers in care and support settings Prioritise continuing education over early employment Recommendations to EU

16. Young People in Public Care: Family backgrounds and care systemsDr Claire Cameron and Professor Sonia Jackson

17. Young people with ‘educational promise’ • 170 18 – 24 years • 115 female; 55 male • 126 ‘white’ • 35 born outside partner country • 17 unaccompanied migrants (ES and EN) • 4 Roma (HU) • 25% in bachelor programmes • 42% in vocational programmes

18. Age of first entry to care

19. Family lives similar in five countries • Complex family forms - single parents + multiple partners • Many siblings, usually close relationships • Low level of employment • Parental alcohol and substance misuse • Loss and bereavement • Being ‘put out’ – unwanted, not being listened to – feeling threatened and standing alone

20. Childhood? • It was a total catastrophe, and I really mean it. My mother was an alcoholic. […] But my mother was like, she went away once, then came back, went away, came back again. […] So if she couldn't get her liquor, she would also break into places. And she spent a lot of time in prison. […] when my parents got divorced, once and for all, I got a foster- mother, who could have stepped out of a fairy tale as an evil stepmother. … she didn't hurt me physically, or just rarely, but she hurt me verbally a lot’. (22, female, studying at a police academy, Hungary)

21. Care lives - a story of difference • Denmark, Sweden, England, mostly in foster care or a mixture of both residential and foster care • Hungary, nearly half in residential care • Spain, importance of kinship care, and residential care • Number of placements

22. Educational support • Very little support from birth families, apart from some unaccompanied migrants • Low level of education among foster carers • Few examples of higher education in Hungary, Sweden, England • Mainly well educated and supportive in Denmark • Residential workers in Spain, Denmark highly trained, value education • But largely low expectations – vocational qualifications, economic independence

23. Support from Swedish FC • I always sat at the kitchen table doing my homework, but she was always around. She could cook at the same time as we did the homework, and if I needed help she always helped. She’s said that school is the most important. School comes first, and is most important, you always have to do a homework, then you can play. Some schoolwork first, then play.

24. Support from Spanish social educator “Very good, they always told me to do what I wanted…they were always encouraging me … any doubts I had or... help I needed, even if I wasn’t at the residential home, I should call them. Since I left the residential home… I still often go for breakfast with the social educator, we go for lunch, with my ex-tutor as well. I received a lot of support from [my social educator] he’s always been there…if you stop... if you need to take a year off, do it, but go back the next year, I know you can do it, and that led me to think... wow, if someone has faith that I can do it, then I can, why can’t I? (Fina, 20) Social educator: “We made it very important. I awarded it a lot of importance and really pushed her to study. It was a priority. The most important thing was education, she wanted money, she wanted other things, and I had to push her a lot”

25. Support overall • Many felt alone, rejected by society • Some foster families were there ‘for life’; others disinterested • Little post care support from residential workers • Friends and life partners important – where existed • Motivation from not being like their parents • Future goals strongly normative – to fit in

26. Young peoples’ responses • Promising • Little or no delay, good experiences in school, fewer placements, foster care, OK relations with parent/s, someone to depend on, offer guidance, volunteering, social life, girls • Not so promising • Health problems, caring responsibilities, poor guidance, in and out of educational programmes with little sense of direction, limited horizons

27. Social Exclusion • Over half in education or training • No criminal records • Employment mostly linked to education • Little unemployment • High levels of voluntary work, informal learning – esp England • Striving to be part of the norm

28. Solutions that seem to work • Continuing and unconditional personal support beyond compulsory education age • Well educated workers – pedagogues – in residential settings in Spain, Denmark, Hungary • Second foster placements • Leaving care teams, especially with teacher attached • Easy financial access to higher education for all – Sweden • Supporting development of strong learning identity • Promoting citizenship – volunteering, social networks