Educational trajectories for residential care experienced young people are complex. A lived experience perspective from a PhD study in Scotland
| Date | 30 April 2024 |
| Pages | 142-157 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-04-2023-0024 |
| Published date | 30 April 2024 |
| Author | Ruby Valerie Whitelaw |
Educational trajectories for residential
care experienced young people are
complex. A lived experience perspective
from a PhD study in Scotland
Ruby Valerie Whitelaw
Abstract
Purpose –Research highlightsthat residential care experienced children and youngpeople in Scotland
have poorer educational outcomes than their peers within the wider population. Despite this, poor
educational attainmentis not inevitable, and further researchis needed to increase the understandingof
long-term trajectories. This paper aims to address a gap in contemporary literature that is of benefit to
practitioners,academics and policymakers. Despiteexperiencing adversity, attachment,separation and
loss, schoolattainment data on leaving care only reflects partof the educationaljourney.
Design/methodology/approach –Using a mixed methodology and social constructionist theoretical
framework, a practitioner-led PhD study gathered data from questionnaires and qualitativeinformation
from 13 semi-structuredinterviews with young people whohad experienced residential care in Scotland.
Recruitment was through a gatekeeper within a national third-sector organisation. The educational
trajectories for young people with experience of residential care in Scotland are complex. A lived
experience perspectivefrom a PhD study illustrates that statisticaldata only captures part of the journey
and the author needsto reconsider how success is measured.
Findings –Of the 13 participants in the study, 12 achieved success educationally, although for the
majority of those interviewed, attainment continued after leaving compulsory education. Barriers to
greater success included placementuncertainty and movement, stigma, low expectations, pressure to
not becomea statistic,procedural obstacles and inconsistencyor poor relationships.
Research limitations/implications –Supportive relationships and stable placements can create
circumstances conducive to effective learning, but evidence reflects that support is necessary
throughoutthe life course if children, young people and adultswith care experience are to reach their full
academicpotential.
Originality/value –Researchinto the educational outcomes for those withexperience of residential care
in Scotland is limited.This paper, from a PhD, provides lived experienceaccounts from a practitioner-led
study.
Keywords Residential care, Life course, Lived experience, Outcomes, Educational attainment,
Trajectories, Complex, Practitioner-led research
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
A child in Scotland is defined in the Children and Young Person (Scotland) Act 2014, under
Section 97, where it states that a child is someone yet to reach the age of 18. Previous
childrens legislation, theChildren (Scotland) Act 1995, differentiated betweena child in Part
One of the Act, as someone under the age of 16, and Part Two of the Act, as someone
under the age of 18. While there can be definitional ambiguity across legislation, the upper
age is in keeping with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child definition
Ruby Valerie Whitelaw is
based at the Department of
Children and Young
People’s Centre for Justice,
University of Strathclyde,
Glasgow, UK.
Received 30 April 2023
Revised 28 December 2023
Accepted 21 March 2024
This research received no
external funding.
The author would like to thank
the young people for their
honesty and contribution and
the gatekeeper who facilitated
access. Without them both this
article would not have been
possible.
PAGE 142 jJOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES jVOL. 19 NO. 3 2024, pp. 142-157, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-6660 DOI 10.1108/JCS-04-2023-0024
(UNCRC, 1989), within which it is recognised that children require additional safeguards to
promote their well-being and welfare. A child’s health and well-being needs are “intimately
bound up in relationships” formed with caregivers (UNICEF, 2013, p. 42). For some
children, care is provided by state agents, as they may have experienced trauma or a
range of adversities (Scottish Government, 2015). When the state becomes involved, a
child may be looked after by their local authority, also known as a “corporate parent”, who
should want the same outcomes for them as the outcomes they would want for their own
children. This is reflective of the Scottish Government commitment to make Scotland the
best place in the world for children to grow up (ScottishGovernment,2008, 2022a).
When a child becomes looked after, “a wide range of legislation, regulation and guidance
provides the framework within which actions take place, but the end-purpose of all of them
is the same: to secure nurturing, positive childhoods, from which these vulnerable young
people can develop into successfullearners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and
effective contributors” (Scottish Government, 2015, p. 3). In addition to the Curriculum for
Excellence, which establishes these educational goals, the Getting It Right for Every Child
practice model promotes eight well-being indicators in the form of safe, healthy, achieving,
nurtured, active, respected, responsible and included, widely known as SHANARRI
(Education Scotland, 2014). These provide a framework for practitioners to focus on
children’s needs.
Between 2021 and 2022, 12,596 childrenwere looked after in Scotland, a drop of 5% on the
previous year (Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, 2023). The number of children
who are looked after within residential placements has been steady at 10% since 2015
(SCRA, 2023). Children can be looked after for many reasons, and these children have
additional rights in recognition of their care needs (Scottish Government, 2022a). Many
have experienced relative poverty and lived within areas of multiple deprivation (Scottish
Government, 2016). In a study of 76 children within securecare, 74% had also experienced
four or more adverse childhood experiences (Gibson, 2021). Ongoing research on the
impact of multiple adversities in childhood is necessary as the dominant discourse remains
one of “individual pathology” (Walsh et al.,2019). Almost 85% of children who come to the
attention of the Children’sReporter have been referred on care and protection grounds,and
the most common reason for referral continues to be a “lack of parental care” (Scottish
Children’s Reporter Administration, 2023), and it is recognised that poverty can be a
mediating factor that increases risk (Care Review, 2020). A recent report by Whitelaw and
Gibson (2023), however, illustratesthat the needs of children placed because of their needs
or deeds are analogous and they can often be one and the same children.
There are several settings that cater for children and young peop le who may be looked after
on a voluntary or compulsory basis (Norrie, 1995;Scottish Government, 2008;Audit S cotland,
2010). Children may live in residential homes, residential scho ols, secure accommodation,
crisis and respite care, foster care, with prospective adopters, kinship care or they can resi de
within the family home subject to legal jurisdiction (Scotti sh Government, 2017). Unlike
residential homes, also referred to as children’s houses/home s, which are designed to meet
the care needs of children who may continue to attend local primary, second ary or specialist
education, residential schools and secure care accommodation provi de both care and
educational facilities on site (Shaw, 2007;Care Inspector ate, 2019;2020). Residential care
provides services that are single or group living arrangements for chi ldren who may live with
other children who are not related to them. It is envisaged that the residential env ironment will
provide better care than the child’s parents (Martin and Jackson, 2002); however, Petrie et al.
(2006) highlight that separation from one’s family, friends, co mmunity and school will be
difficult for any child. This is seen as contributing to children leaving care wit hout qualifications
(Petrie et al.,2006;Dixon and Stein, 2002).
Educational outcomes data for looked after children in 2020/2021 indicates that these
children are more likely to leave school by S4 than their non-looked after counterparts; this
VOL. 19 NO. 3 2024 jJOURNAL OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES jPAGE 143
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