Research Topic and Objectives: 

Children and young people who live in state care typically experience considerable challenges as they progress through the education system (Townsend, Berger & Reupert, 2020). This disparity is evident in literacy (Brownwell et al., 2015), numeracy (Laurens et. al., 2020), graduation rates (Lund & Stokes, 2020), as well as in emotional wellbeing indicators (Romano et.al., 2015). This has implications for their future adult lives including economic instability (Jaffey et al., 2018). In a scoping review, Townsend et.al. (2020) identified the importance of a safe and stable school environment, positive relationships, and teacher expectations on children in care. This suggests that despite difficulties academically and emotionally, schooling can have a positive impact on care-experienced young people.

Although research concerning children and young people in care in Ireland is growing, it remains an underdeveloped field in terms of both data and methodology (Gilligan, Brady & Cullen 2022; National Children in Care of the State and the Education System Working Group, 2020). This research aims to explore what it is like for young people (age 13-17) in residential care to go through post-primary education in Ireland. In doing so, it aims to develop a holistic view of the intersection between state care and education from young people’s perspective, as well as that of professionals, educators and policy makers to impact policy and practice in the intersection of care and education. This will be done by inverting the typical direction of communication, that is, we adopt a bottom-up process, whereby those with lived experience (young people in residential care) have a say in the policy and practice changes that affect them.  

Research Questions:

1. What are the important questions that need to be asked when exploring the educational experiences of children in residential care?
2. What stories needs to be told?
3. Who needs to hear these stories?
4. How can young people’s participation in research impact the practice and policy work of the adults who assume responsibility for their care and education? 

Theoretical Frameworks: 

Fundamentally, this research works as an acknowledgement of the epistemic responsibility of researchers to acknowledge young people as knowers (Medina, 2013) and take seriously their testimonials concerning their lived experiences (Fricker, 2011). In doing so, young people are treated as experts of state care and education through experience, just as social workers, psychologists, and other professionals are treated as experts through education. Informed by theories of emancipatory education (Freire, 1972), socially-just youth work (Tilsen, 2018), horizontality and democratic relationality (Whelan, 2014; Spade, 2020) it uses a participatory framework to equalize the inputs of young people and professionals.  

In line with this, the research is informed by a rights-based approach. Participation in decision-making is of key importance for young people is a protected right under Articles 12 and 13 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989). Within the Irish context it is acknowledged that youth participation in care and treatment plans improve quality of care and practice (Kelleher, Seymour & Halpenny, 2014). Though it lacks statutory implementation, Ireland has recently launched a National Framework for Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-Making (2021). However, there have been ongoing difficulties in engaging ‘seldom-heard’ populations, including young people in care (Kennen et al., 2021). This research aims to intervene at this junction, using research as an avenue for young people to participate in their care as experts through experience. 

Considering the death of information regarding the intersection between state care and education in the Irish context, specifically with young people in residential care, an exploratory approach is appropriate. Using youth participatory methodology and socially-engaged arts practices allows for young people to be acknowledged as experts through experience, while using arts-based methods to ease communication. Socially-engaged and community-based artists such as Fiona Whelan (2007-2011; 2018-2023) have worked with young people in collaborative and democratic ways to engage in social commentary and be a part of practice and policy changes within their communities. Working as a collective, the researcher and young people in residential care will work to develop a central research theme concerning their education, develop data to explore this theme and decide on a dissemination plan as a collective. Additionally, professionals and educators will be interviewed to discuss what, in their views, are the most pressing issues concerning young people in residential care and their education, as well as what it is like for them to work in these spaces. Policy makers will also be interviews to discuss the policy making space and to develop an understanding about how policy decisions concerning this population’s care are made, and the values/principles underpinning them.  Finally, it is envisioned that the dissemination plan co-developed with the young people may include a private viewing or showing of the research outputs to professionals and policy makers of the groups’ choosing (such as teachers, social workers etc.). Additionally, in line with the National Framework, follow-up and feedback from professionals and policy makers concerning this research will be communicated back to the young people.

Data is currently being gathered and preliminary analyses will be shared. This study is exploratory in nature, from its methodology to its analysis, due to the lack of research concerning post-primary education for children in care in Ireland, and specifically children living in residential care. This aligns the research with wider Government priorities; specifically, in response to the Ryan Report (2009), the state Department for Children announced a renewed interest in exploring the lived experiences of children and young people in care (O’Gorman, 2022). By working with young people and adults living and working in this space, this research hopes to create a broader understanding of the complex and nuanced experiences of young people in residential care in post-primary education in Ireland. Additionally, it intends to outline the challenges and particularities of interagency and inter-department cooperation between state Departments, including the Child and Family Services and the Department of Education at national level, and social workers and educators on a local level. This will add to the small but growing research base concerning the education of children and young people in care, as well as offering new methodological insights on creative and participatory methods for working with care-experienced adults in Ireland.

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