Abstract
The education of children in care is seen differently by teachers, caregivers in residential homes, and by the children themselves, and differences may be evident and highly significant with the impact that this entails. A pilot project aimed at improving the schoolbased learning of children in residential care was conducted within the framework of a European Project together with 5 Organizations working in Austria, Croatia, France, Germany and Spain. Program assessment included pre-post design and, on analysing pretest data, we established the objective of finding out more about the social inclusion in school of youth in residential care. More specifically, our goals were to evaluate: (a) peer relationships and acceptance; (b) the participation of youth in care in activities that most of their classmates do, and (c) to find out if youth in care like going to school and feel safe there. Three stakeholders were involved in these three objectives (N = 219): adolescents in residential care aged 12–17 years old and their teachers and caregivers. They were given a questionnaire with the same questions for data to be contrasted. Data matches could be analysed as each teacher and caregiver evaluated the situation of each youngster participating in the research. Findings showed how adolescents evaluated these school-related matters significantly more positively than their teachers, but differences were even more significant when compared to caregivers, who revealed a largely pessimistic outlook, with implications for consequent practices and policy-making. In addition, data matching showed little agreement between adult and adolescents’ responses. Not only does this assessment reveal how children in residential care experience school, but it may also provide insight into the social construction of the education of children in care and whether it is seen as a problem or, by contrast, as an opportunity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Berger, L. M., Cancian, M., Han, E., Noyes, J., & Rios-Salas, V. (2015). Children’s academic achievement and foster care. Pediatrics, 135(1), 109–116.
CELCIS. (2015). Looked after and learning. improving the learning journey of looked after children. Glasgow, Scotland: University of Strathclyde.
Darmody, M., McMahon, L., Banks, J., & Gilligan, R. (2013). Education of children in care in Ireland: an exploratory study. Dublin, Republic of Ireland: Ombudsman for Children.
Davidson-Arad, B., Dekel, R., & Wozner, Y. (2004). Correspondence in residents’ and staff members’ assessments of the quality of life of children in residential care facilities. Social Indicators Research, 68(1), 77–89.
Department for Education. (2015). Children looked after in England, year ending 31st March 2015. Retrieved from: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-includingadoption-2015-to-2016
Dill, K., Flynn, R. J., Hollingshead, M., & Fernandes, A. (2012). Improving the educational achievement of young people in out-of-home care. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(6), 1081–1083.
Forsman, H., Brännström, L., Vinnerljung, B., & Hjern, A. (2016). Does poor school performance cause later psychosocial problems among children in foster care? Evidence from national longitudinal registry data. Child Abuse & Neglect, 57, 61–71.
Jackson, S., & Cameron, C. (Eds.). (2014). Improving access to further and higher education for young people in public care. European policy and practice. London/Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Landis, J., & Kock, G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33(1), 159–174.
Martín, E., Muñoz de Bustillo, M. C., Rodríguez, T., & Pérez, Y. (2008). De la residencia a la escuela: la integración social de los menores en acogimiento residencial con el grupo de iguales en el contexto escolar. Psicothema, 20(3), 376–382.
McNamara, P., Harvey, A., & Andrewartha, L. (2017). Passports out of poverty: Raising access to higher education for care leavers in Australia. Children and Youth Services Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.07.015
Montserrat, C., & Casas, F. (2006). Kinship foster care from the perspective of quality of life: Research on the satisfaction of the stakeholders. Applied Research in quality of life, 1, 227–237.
Montserrat, C., & Casas, F. (2018). The education of children and adolescents in out-ofhome care: A problem or an opportunity? Results of a longitudinal study. European Journal of Social Work, 21(5), 750–763.
Montserrat, C., Casas, F., & Baena, M. (2015). La educación de los niños, niñas y adolescentes en el sistema de protección. ¿Un problema o una oportunidad? Girona, Spain: Documenta Universitaria.
O’Higgins, A., Sebba, J., & Luke, N. (2015). What is the relationship between being in care and the educational outcomes of children? An international systematic review. Oxford, UK: University of Oxford, Rees Centre for Research in Fostering and Education.
Sebba, J., Berridge, D., Luke, N., Fletcher, J., Bell, K., Strand, S., et al. (2015). The Educational Progress of Looked After Children in England: Linking Care and Educational Data. Oxford, UK/Bristol, UK/London: The Rees Centre, The University of Bristol and The Nuffield Foundation.
Wise, S., & Connolly, M. (2014). Using early childhood development research in child protection: Benefits, boundaries and blind spots. Developing Practice: The Child, Youth and Family Work Journal, 39, 15–28.
Acknowledgements
BTG – Federal Association of Therapeutic Communities (Austria); Play Association.
(Croatia); Parrains par Mille (France); S&S GEM. Gesellschaft für Soziales MBH (Germany), and Plataforma Educativa (Spain).
Funding
Erasmus + project: 2016-1-ES01-KA201-025021: Sapere Aude Project-Improvement of school results of youngsters in care through mentoring.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Montserrat, C., Llosada-Gistau, J., Casas, F., Sitjes, R. (2019). Different Perceptions Regarding the Education of Children in Care: The Perspectives of Teachers, Caregivers and Children in Residential Care. In: McNamara, P., Montserrat, C., Wise, S. (eds) Education in Out-of-Home Care. Children’s Well-Being: Indicators and Research, vol 22. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26372-0_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26372-0_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-26371-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-26372-0
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)