Pathways through Education for Young People in Care: Ideas from Research and Practice By SJackson. (ed) London: BAAF, 2013 ISBN 978‐1‐907585‐72‐2, 278 pp, £19.95

Abstract

Ensuring that children and young people in care have positive experiences of schooling and education is widely recognised as crucial to their current and future well-being. In her opening chapter, Jackson highlights the shifts in legislation and policy that have taken place, and the associated increase in research knowledge and attention. This book bears witness to this progress, while recognising that children often enter care with additional educational challenges, and that ensuring appropriate help and understanding is available continues to be a work in progress. The book is structured in four sections, beginning with a policy and research overview, followed by sections on raising attainment, the school experience and ‘in care and beyond’. The separate chapters include a mix of research, practice observation and description, and personal accounts. Individually, all chapters have merit and interest. The inclusion of a schools perspective is especially welcome, as this has too often been absent from discussion. The personal accounts from Colette Isabel Bradly (on expectations and aspirations for children in care) and Maria Poyser (on inclusion and the role of alternative education in supporting children in care) are thought provoking. What does the book establish? First of all, it demonstrates that significant progress in policy and practice had been made. As O'Sullivan and Westerman and colleagues note in their postscript, many of the initiatives that were undertaken by separately funded projects are now embedded as ‘normal’ practice. Secondly, it provides evidence for the type of practice that can support the education of children in care. While there has been a lack of evaluated interventions into the education of looked after children, this text contains useful examples of practice that has been successfully implemented, such as The Letterbox Club. Thirdly, it highlights the value of considering the education of children in care from a comparative perspective, through chapters relating to Scotland and Europe. These examples illustrate the importance of the wider policy landscape. In an English context of major cuts to public services, one might wish for a further volume that includes consideration of the implications of austerity for the current generation of children in care. Fourthly, this volume emphasises the need to recognise the complexity of the education of children in care as an issue, including the individuality of each child in care and the many different approaches that may be necessary to provide support. Finally, the book highlights the need to avoid a view of care as time limited, and the need to ensure young people are supported educationally beyond their immediate care placement. Often, as Driscoll notes in her chapter entitled ‘Making up lost ground’, financial, familial and personal pressures become insurmountable barriers for young people trying to achieve educationally. Many different services will need to be able to provide practical and emotional support if these barriers are to be overcome. As Jackson acknowledges, the nature of edited texts inevitably presents problems, especially in terms of what is included and what is left out. Certainly, there are many more issues that might have been usefully considered — she notes specific omissions in terms of children living in residential care and young children in care, but there are many others. However, this book is valuable in providing an accessible, evidence-based source that provides a marker of progress. There is much to celebrate in this area of practice and research, and also much to be done.