Case study on the impact of IOE research into Going to University from Care. September 2011

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1 into Going to University from Care September 2011

2 into Going to University from Care Why this research is highly significant This study described the experiences of a group of young people about whom previously nothing was known the tiny minority of students in higher education who come from the care system. It provided clear evidence that their ability and potential were being systematically underestimated and that they were being deprived of most educational opportunities open to other young people. The study triggered the introduction of a 2,000 bursary for care leavers who go on to higher education. It encouraged many UK universities and local authorities to improve the support they offer care leavers before and after they enter HE. The research has also influenced policy thinking in other countries. Background In the last two decades of the 20th century, research by Sonia Jackson and a handful of other researchers highlighted the fact that looked after children in the UK were being failed by the education and care systems. The first of these studies, which is regarded as a seminal piece of work, was published by Professor Jackson in These studies showed that children in care were at least ten times more likely to be permanently excluded from school and be put in pupil referral units, receive only a few hours a week of home tuition, or be lost to the education system altogether. Only 8 per cent of them obtained five or more GCSEs at A*-C in 2003, compared with more than half of all children 2. However, during the five years that the By Degrees project was carried out the education of children and young people in public care rose up the Government s agenda. Two major pieces of legislation were introduced, providing a propitious climate for the IOE study and the dissemination of its findings. The Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 placed a statutory obligation on local authorities to provide financial and personal support up to the age of 24 for care leavers in full-time education. The Children Act 2004 for the first time also laid a duty on local authorities to promote the educational achievement of children they look after (around 61,000 children and young people in England are in care at any one time). Three years earlier, the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, had commissioned the Social Exclusion Unit to recommend ways of raising the educational attainment of children in care 3. Furthermore, soon after the start of the By Degrees project the Blair government announced a new initiative, the Excellence Challenge, to increase the number of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds benefiting from higher education. Nevertheless, when the IOE researchers report was published in May 2005 there were still no national statistics on the proportion of care leavers going on to university. The best estimate was about 1 per cent 4. Many local authorities had never supported a young person in care through a degree course. Who carried out this research? This five-year (2000-5) action research project, By Degrees: From care to university, was undertaken by Professor Sonia Jackson, Sarah Ajayi and Margaret Quigley of the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education. Who provided the funding? Buttle UK, a leading children s charity, commissioned the research and raised approximately 800,000 to carry out the study. Funds were provided by the Department for Education and Skills, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation UK, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Freemasons Grand Charity, the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Pilgrim Trust, and the KPMG Foundation. 1

3 Going to University from Care How the research was conducted The student sample: The researchers recruited three successive cohorts of 50 care leavers who had received firm offers of places to study at degree level in higher education institutions. The first group was followed throughout their three-year degree courses, the second group for two years and the third group for their first year. The young people were interviewed on several occasions and took part in a number of group events. The final research sample consisted of 129 young people in 68 universities -- by far the largest number of students formerly in care that has ever been studied. The students, mainly nominated by local authority officers or care workers, came from all over England. Sixty per cent of them had suffered abuse or neglect before coming into care, almost exactly the same proportion as in the care population generally. Their GCSE performance was close to the national average. Seventy per cent in cohorts 1 and 2 and 91 per cent in cohort 3 obtained five or more A* C grades at GCSE. Minority ethnic groups were overrepresented in the study by comparison with the national care population. Just under half of the participants were white British while 16 per cent were unaccompanied asylum-seekers. In the third cohort 40 per cent had been born overseas. Surveys of local authorities and higher education institutions: Postal surveys of local authorities and higher education institutions (HEIs) were carried out near the beginning and end of the project. These surveys requested descriptive and statistical information on available services for young people in, and leaving, care who planned to enter further or higher education. Eleven local authorities acted as a reference group, with representatives interviewed annually. 2

4 What the researchers discovered Money issues: Some students had difficulty processing the information provided about higher education and missed the chance to apply for grants. Most students became better at budgeting during their second and third years but still suffered from constant money problems. Almost all took out the maximum student loan every year and after three years their average debt was 11,235, compared with the national average of 9,210. Only one local authority helped students to pay off the debt after they graduated. For those with less local authority support, anxiety about money dominated their entire university experience. Accommodation: Making friends was extremely important and was easier for those in halls of residence. However, some students missed this opportunity because of delays in local authority decisions about funding. Some young people, especially in London, had been previously allocated council houses or flats and were afraid of losing their tenancies. This restricted their choice of course and university and made it harder for those who lived some distance away to participate fully in university life. Difficulties with coursework and dissertations: These were common, and were often attributed to taking on too much paid work to make ends meet, earlier gaps in schooling, never having had an established homework routine, or emotional and relationship issues. Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000: An important aim of the By Degrees project was to assess the impact of this Act. This legislation not only requires authorities to provide financial support and accommodation for young people in full-time education, but to inform them of their entitlement. Unfortunately, a clause in the Guidance to the Act (DfES 2003c) 5 allowed local authorities to offer widely different levels of support. Young people participating in the IOE study consequently often said they felt abandoned and had great difficulty contacting anyone when they needed help. Less than half of the 63 local authorities which responded to the first survey before the provisions of the Act came into force -- had an agreed policy on support for young people from care entering HE. The second survey conducted three years later showed that more local authorities now had such policies. However, there were still wide variations in practice. More positively, by 2004 some authorities were stressing the importance of schools and social services working together to provide a seamless transition for young people going on to HE. They were also more willing than in 2001 to provide students with computers and pay for books and other study equipment. Only a minority of local authorities, however, offered continuing personal and emotional support from a named person or personal adviser into the second and third years of study. Support from universities: The researchers found that young care leavers with problems also did not get enough help from universities student support services. The great majority of the 96 HEIs in England which responded to the first survey had not previously been aware of care leavers as a group with particular needs. The second UKwide survey of 50 HEIs in 2004 indicated that government initiatives designed to increase the numbers of disadvantaged young people going to university had not really raised awareness of care leavers needs. By then, most HEIs had officers with a widening participation remit. However, only one of the universities that responded to the second survey had a comprehensive policy on care leavers. Ninety-five per cent did not offer any pastoral support to students formerly in care. Drop-out rate: Despite the many difficulties they faced, most of the care leavers enjoyed their university years and were very aware of the relative advantages that their education had An important aim of the By Degrees project was to assess the impact of the Children (Leaving Care) Act This legislation not only requires authorities to provide financial support and accommodation for young people in full-time education, but to inform them of their entitlement. 3

5 Going to University from Care brought them. The majority completed their courses successfully or were still studying when the research ended. The drop-out rate for By Degrees students in Cohorts 2 and 3 was 10 per cent, compared with the national average of 14 per cent. This figure of 10 per cent can also be compared with the 25 per cent drop-out rate in Cohort 1, before the Children (Leaving Care) Act came into force. This improvement underlines the importance of local authority support to enable young care leavers to pursue their studies. Only one of the overseas students dropped out, after being refused permission to stay in the country. The young care leavers from overseas often worked much harder than UK-born students with a care background, putting in, on average, twice as many hours of private study. Main recommendations The researchers final report made no fewer than 43 recommendations for central government, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), HEIs, schools, and local authorities. Among the main proposals were: Local authorities should plan and budget to support increasing numbers of care leavers going to university. Financial support for care leavers at university should be tailored to their needs and not provided only at a minimum level. Children in care should be enrolled in schools where a high proportion of pupils go to university. Foster carers should be trained and funded to provide accommodation and support for young people during the examination years and throughout their HE courses. The UCAS form should include an optional tick-box to indicate that an applicant has been in care. Students should be advised and 4

6 supported to live in university accommodation for the first year. Every student should have a named personal adviser for the duration of their course. All HEIs should have a comprehensive policy for recruitment, retention and support of students from a care background. Dissemination The dissemination of the study s findings began long before the research ended. The project team, including staff from Buttle UK, took every opportunity to share emerging findings with policy-makers and professional groups. Two reports were produced for the Social Exclusion Unit and cited in a subsequent report to the Prime Minister 6. Many social services and education departments invited the research team to make presentations about their work while the study was under way. Sonia Jackson and her colleagues spoke at no fewer than 44 conferences and workshops, in England, Wales, Scotland, Australia, Croatia and Denmark, during the course of their research. 5 The researchers also produced a substantial interim report on the first cohort (Jackson et al. 2003), which was launched at a national conference. Students involved in the research played a prominent role in this conference as workshop leaders and spoke movingly about their own experiences. The publication of the final report, Going to University from Care, also aroused great interest and resulted in dozens of other speaking invitations. Buttle UK helped to secure additional funding from the KPMG Foundation to support the dissemination programme beyond the formal end of the project. The Who Cares? Trust, an advocate for looked-after children, also provided some funds for this work. The involvement of these organisations ensured that the study s findings reached many professionals and young people.

7 Going to University from Care The project s impact Education Secretary s endorsement: Ruth Kelly, the then Secretary of State for Education, welcomed the study as the first-ever research about how care leavers experience university and said it made a significant contribution to policy development. Her foreword to the final report emphasised that it contained powerful messages for local authorities about the importance of recognising young people s needs. They had to receive reliable and consistent practical and emotional support in order to succeed in their studies, she wrote. Bursary for care leavers: Proof that the Government had heeded the researchers advice was eventually provided by the Children and Young Persons Act 2008 which amended section 23C of the Children Act 1989 by requiring local authorities to pay a oneoff, additional bursary to care leavers of 18 and over who take a course of higher education 7. The memorandum on this regulation change 8 explains that the bursary should be 2,000 and makes explicit the link between the research and the policy change: The amount is based on evidence [Going to University from Care: Jackson, Ajayi and Quigley (2005)] that former relevant children finish higher education with an average of 2,000 more debt than their peers. The document s accompanying briefing paper adds that the research by Sonia Jackson and her colleagues suggests that the more support, including financial, that former relevant children had the greater their chances of success. The regulation came into effect in September 2009 but care leavers who started an HE course one year earlier were also entitled to claim the bursary. A companion Memorandum for Wales 9, which introduced the bursary in the academic year, also makes it clear that the rationale for a 2,000 bursary is provided by the IOE study. Quality mark for universities: Following the launch of Going to university from care, Buttle UK created a Quality Mark which recognises institutions that adopt a statement of commitment to care leavers. This statement is based on the recommendations of the IOE team. Buttle UK drew up the statement in consultation with Universities UK and other higher education bodies and Bill Rammell, the then Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning, launched the Quality Mark at a House of Lords reception in June To date (August 2011), more than 80 universities and a pilot group of 25 further education colleges have applied for and been awarded the Buttle UK Quality Mark for Care Leavers. Universities with this award express their commitment in slightly different ways but Cardiff University, like many other HEIs, has been offering care leavers a bursary of 1,000 on top of the means-tested bursaries available to other students. Care leavers are now able to contact a named mentor at Cardiff University s student support centre to discuss any concerns they have. They are also guaranteed a hall of residence place in their first year. At Leeds University and HEIs with the award, student volunteers help young people in care with revision and college applications. UCAS form: The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service accepted the recommendation that it should add a box to its application form so that students can identify themselves as care leavers, if they so choose. This was done in This apparently minor bureaucratic change is actually very significant as it helps to ensure that care leavers who gain places in HEIs are given additional support and advice once they begin their courses. Local authority policies: The study s findings have informed many local authority policy documents and have triggered changes in practice. Brian Roberts, head of Peterborough s Virtual School, and chair of the English Advisory Committee of the Fostering Network, said that the By Degrees research is one of the most widely read items of evidence used in promoting the educational achievement of children in care 10. His conversations with Ministers and MPs, in the current 6

8 coalition government and the previous Labour government, had shown that they were able to quote from the findings. The research was central to changes in national legislation that made the educational achievement of children in the care system a statutory priority for local authorities, he confirmed. The By Degrees project, however, raised awareness of care leavers needs even before the final report was published in Some local authority staff have told the researchers 11 that the project s interim report in 2003 provided a clearer framework within which to develop their services. Mark Farmer, the teacher in Bristol s Care and After Team, said that the case study in the interim report about two girls in care in the same authority attending the same university, one well supported who did very well, the other who dropped out exhausted by the struggle to support herself, was what convinced him that Bristol had to have an agreed protocol for helping young care leavers in HE. We did this and it has proved very successful, he said 12. Bristol now has more than 20 care leavers at university and is committed to keeping all its looked after young people in education after 16. Impact on policy thinking in Australia: The research by Professor Jackson and her colleagues has also influenced policy-makers thinking on children in care in other countries, including Australia. The report of a major inquiry that the New South Wales government published in September explains that Faye Lo Po, its former Minister for Community Services, had called for the inquiry after hearing Sonia Jackson deliver an address on children in care in Parliament House, Sydney, in October Professor Jackson referred to emerging findings from the By Degrees study in this address. European research project: Going to University from Care also paved the way for a recently completed pan-european study directed by Professor Jackson. The YiPPEE project (Young People in Public Care Pathways to Education in Europe) was funded by the European Commission at a cost of 1.4 million euros as part of a major research initiative on youth and social inclusion. It ran from January 2008 to December 2010 and was undertaken by a team of researchers from Denmark, Hungary, Spain, Sweden and England. This project, which stemmed from a research proposal by Professor Jackson and Dr Claire Cameron of the Thomas Coram Research Unit, was designed to identify ways of encouraging and enabling care leavers to remain in education after the end of compulsory schooling. Its recommendations are now expected to influence European policy in this area. Recognition for Sonia Jackson: The impact of Professor Jackson s personal contribution to research into the welfare of looked after children was officially recognised while the IOE study was still in progress. In 2003 she received the OBE for services to children in public care. Reporting the announcement of the award, The Times Educational Supplement described Professor Jackson as the first person to highlight the underachievement of looked after children. Remaining challenges The principal aim of the By Degrees project was to produce evidence that would ultimately: increase the numbers of young people in care going to university enable them to make the most of their time at university and to complete their courses successfully help local authorities to fulfil their obligations as corporate parents raise awareness of the particular needs of this group of students. Each of these goals has been largely achieved. For example, the proportion of care leavers going on to university rose from about one in 100 in 2003 to almost one in 10 in In some 7

9 Going to University from Care local authorities -- particularly those looking after highly motivated young asylum-seekers the figure has climbed to between 20 and 30 per cent. Such figures would have been unimaginable even 10 years ago. Nevertheless, it would be misleading to suggest that all of the problems that the researchers highlighted have now been remedied. Many local authorities are now struggling to support care leavers through university because of increased funding pressures and the growing numbers of care leavers applying for HE places. But despite such financial difficulties there is no question that able young people from care backgrounds now have a far better chance of going on to university and succeeding there than they did 10 years ago. Sonia Jackson, Sarah Ajayi and Margaret Quigley have helped to open doors that must never be locked again. 8

10 Notes 1 Jackson, S. (1987) The Education of Children in Care, Bristol Papers in Applied Social Studies, No.1, Bristol: University of Bristol. (reprinted in S. Jackson (ed.) 2001: Nobody Ever Told Us School Mattered, London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering. 2 Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2004) National Statistics: Trends in Education and Skills: 5.5 GCSE/GNVQ Qualifications 3 Social Exclusion Unit (2003) A better education for children in care. London: SEU. Further reading: Jackson, S. and Ajayi, S. (2007) Foster care and higher education, Adoption and Fostering 31.1, Jackson, S., Ajayi, S. and Quigley, M. (2005) Going to university from care: Final report By Degrees project, London: Institute of Education. Jackson, S., Ajayi, S. and Quigley, M. (2003) By Degrees -- The first year: From care to University, London: National Children s Bureau/ Frank Buttle Trust. 4 Ibid. 5 Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2003c) Guidance to the Children (Leaving Care) Act London: The Stationery Office. 6 Social Exclusion Unit (2003) A better education for children in care. London: SEU. 7 The Government provides local authorities with money to pay the bursary through the Care Matters grant, which forms part of the Area Based grant. Any care leaver who starts a course by their 25th birthday is entitled to the bursary. 8 See Explanatory Memorandum to the Children Act 1989 (Higher Education Bursary) (England) Regulations Explanatory Memorandum to the Children Act 1989 (Higher Education Bursary) (Wales) Regulations From Reflections on the By Degrees research, a statement that Brian Roberts provided for the IOE, July 1, Going to University from Care, page Part of a statement that Mark Farmer provided for the IOE, June 15, Voices: the education experience of children and young people in out-of-home care committee.nsf/0/24f48bd568cdb057ca256c47 000A103F 14 Final report of the YiPPEE project. Young people from a public care background: pathways to further and higher education in five European countries, i

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