Employment\xa0and further study outcomes for care-experienced graduates in the UK

Neil Harrison,Zoë Baker,Jacqueline Stevenson

doi:10.1007/s10734-020-00660-w

Neil Harrison, Zoë Baker + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00660-w

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Abstract

Life outcomes for people who spent time in the care of the state as children (‘care-experienced’) are known to be significantly lower, on average, than for the general population. The reasons for this are complex and multidimensional, relating to social upheaval, disrupted schooling, mental and physical health issues and societal stigmatisation. Previous studies across several countries have demonstrated that they are significantly less likely to participate in higher education and more likely to withdraw early. However, little is currently known about their outcomes after graduation.This paper therefore explores the initial outcomes for the 1,010 full-time students identified as care-experienced within the cohort graduating from an undergraduate degree programme in the UK in 2016/17—the most recent year for which data are available. They were found to be slightly more likely to be unemployed and less likely to be in work (and particularly professional work) than their peers, but, conversely, more likely to be studying. These differences largely disappeared once background educational and demographic factors were controlled.The paper discusses the relationship between care-experience and other sites of inequality, concluding that care-experienced graduates are crucially over-represented in groups that are disadvantaged in the graduate labour market—e.g. by ethnicity, disability or educational history. This intersectional inequality largely explains their lower graduate outcomes. While there are important limitations with the data available, this speaks for the transformational potential of higher education in enabling care-experienced graduates to transcend childhood adversity. Recommendations for national policy and local practices conclude the paper.

Highlights

In the United Kingdom (UK)1, the terms ‘looked after children’ or ‘children in care’ refer to those who are removed by local authorities with a ‘care order’ and placed in foster care, residential homes, or with extended family members; this is most commonly due to abuse or neglect within the birth family (Department for Education [DfE] 2019a)
Lower attainment can subsequently impact on higher education (HE) participation rates for those who are care-experienced and largely explains why they are severely underrepresented at this level of study
The recent shift to a 15-month survey period may provide different insights once these data become available. This first insight into the outcomes of care-experience graduates offers a promising picture. While it is based solely on a UK dataset, we believe that our findings will be useful to researchers and policymakers in other countries, given the ubiquity of concerns about how those taken into care as children fare in adulthood

Summary

Introduction

In the United Kingdom (UK), the terms ‘looked after children’ or ‘children in care’ refer to those who are removed by local authorities with a ‘care order’ and placed in foster care, residential homes, or with extended family members; this is most commonly due to abuse or neglect within the birth family (Department for Education [DfE] 2019a). Adults who were in care at some point in their childhood are often referred to as ‘care-experienced’ and are the focus of this paper. The legacy of childhood trauma can unsurprisingly impact educational outcomes for children in care and care-experienced adults. Lower attainment can subsequently impact on higher education (HE) participation rates for those who are care-experienced and largely explains why they are severely underrepresented at this level of study. In England, the HE participation rate for care-experienced students is around 12% up to the age of 23, compared with 43% in the general population (Harrison 2017). Care-experienced students include both those transitioning into HE directly from care (often referred to as ‘care leavers’) and those returning in later adulthood; the latter group predominates, without around half being over 21 on entry (Harrison 2020)

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