Routes Into Higher Education For Children-In-Care And Care Leavers: Transitions, Retention And Success

Author(s):

Neil Harrison(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 02 A,

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-22

15:15-16:45

Room:

K5.04

Chair:

Colin McCaig

Contribution

In common with all developed nations, England provides a safety net for children who suffer (or are at risk of) serious neglect or abuse. Such children are legally placed into the care of social workers within the local council; most commonly they are cared for by paid foster parents, in children’s homes or with their extended family. These ‘children-in-care’ may remain away from their birth parents for anything from a few days to many years. Some, however, remain in care into adolescence, being deemed ‘care leavers’ after the age of 16. There are currently around 70,000 children-in-care and care leavers in England.

The childhood trauma experienced by children-in-care is often later associated with long-term mental health issues and engagement in dangerous behaviours. Furthermore, their education is often disrupted by absences and frequent moves between carers and schools (Sebba et al, 2015). These elements interact and lead to educational outcomes that are significantly lower than their peers. For example, in 2015, only 18% of children-in-care achieve five good General Certificate of Secondary Education passes at 16, compared to 64% for the wider population of young people (Department for Education, 2016a). Children-in-care therefore comprise one of the most educationally disadvantaged and marginalised groups.

Nevertheless, many children-in-care do achieve highly and gain the qualifications needed to seek entry to higher education. Official data about care leavers in higher education are limited, but it is known that there are currently 1,760 between the ages of 18 and 21 (Department for Education, 2016b). This equates to a participation rate of 6%; the comparable figure for their peers is 42%, once again underlining the disparity in educational outcomes (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, 2015).

Since the late 2000s, there has been significant policy interest in improving the educational outcomes for children-in-care (Department for Education and Skills, 2007) and progression into higher education for care leavers (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2014). As a result, local councils have increased the financial support provided, while most universities now also offer bursaries, admissions advice and other dedicated services.

However, very little is known about the pathways that care leavers take towards, into and through higher education. The most significantly study was undertaken by Jackson et al. (2005) which found that care leavers experienced a wide-range of practical and personal barriers to success, although many demonstrated high levels of resilience and completed their degrees at rates that were similar to other students. However, this research predates the improvements outlined above, as well as the subsequent increases in tuition fees and other factors that may have had a negative effect.

This paper will report the results of the HERACLES (“Higher Education: Researching Around Care Leavers’ Entry and Success”) project, which was commissioned by the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers. The research questions addressed in this paper will be:

What are the social and educational attributes of care leavers who do enter higher education and how do these compare to other students?
What risk factors influence whether care leavers are retained within higher education and whether they successfully complete their degree?
What additional forms of support, advice or encouragement might be provided?

The project has a strong empirical focus, but Amartya Sen’s (1993, 2001) ‘capabilities approach’ will be used as a theoretical lens for exploring flourishing in higher education, in particular with respect to the provision that local councils and universities do (and could) make for care leavers to help them to overcome the manifest disadvantages of their earlier lives. This will provide a wider relevance for the paper beyond the initial country context.

Method

The HERACLES project was based around a mixed methods approach, with two distinct strands of data collection and analysis: • Strand 1: A survey of current care leavers in higher education. Because care leavers are distributed across England’s 130 universities, access to them for research purposes is problematic. An online questionnaire was devised focusing on their experiences of the transition into higher education, whether they had considered withdrawing and the support that they had received to help them to succeed. This was distributed by university staff to care leavers and responses were received from 212 individuals, comprising around 10% of the total estimated population. The questionnaire collected both quantitative data (in the form of Likert scales) and qualitative data from open questions; the latter was examined using thematic analysis. • Strand 2: A quantitative analysis of national official administrative data. Data were procured for the whole cohort of young people reaching the age of 16 in 2007/08 – totalling around 500,000 individuals. This initial dataset provided background demographic and personal data (e.g. gender, ethnicity, disability) and qualifications attained. This was supplemented by data tracking whether they later entered higher education (from 2009/10 onwards), whether they completed their degree (up to 2014/15), the degree classification received and whether they secured a job within six months of graduation. The children-in-care and care leavers within the dataset were isolated, providing the opportunity to examine their educational trajectory towards higher education in comparison to the wider population of young people. The statistical technique used is binary logistic regression. The paper will synthesise the findings from the two strands to provide key insights from extensive quantitative and qualitative datasets, while attempting to contextualise these for an international audience given that there will be parallels for other European and developed nations. As such, the paper will work within pragmatic research paradigm, informed by social realism and its focus on social improvement through focused and critical empirical investigation.

Expected Outcomes

Analysis of the Strand 1 data is complete and, unsurprisingly, indicates that care leavers have extremely diverse experiences of higher education. Around two-thirds of the sample reported overwhelmingly positive experiences, with confidence about their progress through higher education and their plans after graduation. However, around one-third reported difficulties either with the process of transition into higher education or with their subsequent life as a student. Some of these were similar to those reported by other students (e.g. academic challenges, financial issues), but others emergent themes were specific to their background in care, including loneliness and social isolation, adaptation to independent living and poor access to advice/support from their local authority. Around one-in-ten respondents reported severe difficulties that were very likely to jeopardise their chances of success in higher education, most notably including long-term mental health issues arising from their childhood trauma. At the time of writing, the analysis of the Strand 2 data has yet to commence – it will be concluded by March 2017. It is expected to show that even when care leavers have similar qualifications to other young people, they are less likely to choose to attend higher education – and if they do, they tend to delay their progression for one or more years. It is also expected that they may be less likely to complete their degree. These expectations are based on the barriers experienced by care leavers around their mental health, self-confidence and financial resources (as noted above). However, this project is the first to track care leavers into and through higher education using a full national dataset, so it may be that some or all of these expectations are confounded once the analysis is complete.

References

Department for Education (2016a) Outcomes for children looked after by local authorities in England: March 2016, London: DFE. Department for Education (2016b) Children looked after in England including adoption: 2015 to 2016, London: DFE. Department for Education and Skills (2007) Care matters: time for change, London: Cabinet Office. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (2014) National strategy for access and student success in higher education, London: BIS. Jackson, S., S. Ajayi and M. Quigley (2005) Going to university from care, London: Institute of Education. Sebba, J., D. Berridge, N. Luke, J. Fletcher, K. Bell, S. Strand, S. Thomas, I. Sinclair and A. O’Higgins (2015) The educational progress of looked after children in England: linking care and educational data, Oxford: Rees Centre. Sen, A. (1993) Capability and well-being, in M. Nussbaum and A. Sen (Eds.) The quality of life (pp. 30-53). New York, NY: Routledge. Sen, A. (2001) Development as freedom, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (2015) End of cycle report 2015, Cheltenham: UCAS.

Author Information

Neil Harrison (presenting / submitting)

University of the West of England, United Kingdom

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