A new research conducted collaboratively by the School for Policy Studies (University of Bristol) and Rees Centre (University of Oxford) highlights factors which explain the 'attainment gap' for English children who have been in need or in care at some point during their schooling. As many as 1 in 7 kids might experience such a period, and their school attainment tends to be lower at each stage, compared to children who never need to rely on social work.
Children in need are 'those receiving social work services due to concerns over their health or development, or because they are disabled'. While supported by an external agency, they usually remain within their families. Children in care usually 'live away from birth families with foster carers or in residential homes'. Some of the main reasons leading to children being in need, or in care, are 'abuse or neglect, family dysfunction, family in acute stress' or children disability.
Using quantitative and qualitative analyses, the study showed that:
- despite being a larger group, children in need receive much less attention and funding. Many children in care have previously been children in need, proving that early intervention could be helpful to avoid family separation, besides helping children improve their learning capabilities and educational results;
- an unstable situation, whether at school or in care, tends to affect negatively children's social, emotional and mental health;
- not all schools and teachers were prepared to support vulnerable learners, showing little understanding and flexibility with regards to academic excellence and school discipline.
Based on these observations, the report makes the following recommendations for policy and practice:
- continue to increase the visibility of children in need as a group, as well as the resources allocated to support them;
- extend the financial help for children in need to alleviate their families' financial limitations, and reduce the negative impact this has on children's educational progress;
- review the procedures which allow 'case closures' to ensure families continue to receive support;
- provide training for teachers to make all schools more inclusive by raising the awareness and understanding of children's personal circumstances which might determine their behaviour at school;
- provide better legal and general support for relative carers.