Educational Attainment of Looked after Children - Research Proposal Example

Research proposal on the educational attainment of looked after children Introduction: Looked after children is collective term used in England that encompasses in them children in different public cares as foster homes, residential homes and even children with parents who are under the public care or subjective to care orders. These children are described as the vulnerable group suffering abuse and neglect. Many observations and studies have shown that they have poor educational and physical and mental health standards when compared to their peer group .Of this there had been a high debater over the poor education attainment of these children, resulting in a number of researches and studies focused to alleviate that difference. Based on that the Government of England has brought in many new laws, many white papers that have the list of suggested transformations, and also amendment of earlier laws. Thus the government along with the social workers, care givers and schools are trying to bring in a sea change of transformation among the looked after children. In the light of this background the particular research is formulated to study whether these changes brought in by the government for last 5 years had brought in any positive changes in the educational attainment of the children in the looked after category. This is believed to be of little value in the direction to measure whether the changes have reached the group and is steered in positive direction. Background study / Review of Literature: The “Looked after Children “, is the term that came in to practice after the introduction of Children’s Act , 1989, that was used in context to describe the children who were under the care order and also of those admitted on mutual agreement between the parent and local authorities. The care home’s list includes those in foster care, kinship care and also the fraction in residential homes. Thus they include both groups of children subjected to care by court orders and those entering on voluntary basis. Statistics: Statistics shows that by September 2004, there had been 45,000 children looked after by British Local authorities, with 35,300 children in school going age. This is found to be starkly increased as against 37,800 in 1997. Now on extrapolation it is expected to be anywhere close to 60,000. The 2004 statistical report also shows that of the school going children, 27% had SEN statement, 25% missed at least 25 days of class and 1% faced permanent exclusion. When the education attainment figure was analyzed it was seen that, of 55% children in appropriate age group in key stage 1 , were found to attain level 2 followed by 43% achievement of level 4 at key stage 2 and 23% attaining level 5 at key stage 3. Also the data shows that in school year 11 only 56% obtained at least one GCSE or GNVQ when compared to 97% of all school children, that is seen to be better when compared to previous years of 43% not sitting in exam when compared to 41in 2004. On analyzing the figures of achievement of Grade A in at least 5 GCSE’s or equivalent it was 9% much lower to that of 53% achieved by their peer group. This is lower when compared with last years 15%. Overall it was seen that at the school year of 11 only 59% presumed education on comparison77% of school leavers. When analyzed further the statistics released by Department for Education and Skills, England, it could be seen that the number of students who was accessed by school as with special education needs was found to have risen from 26.8% in 2003 to 27.4% 2004, but percentage of exclusion has come down from 1.1 to 0.9%. The table that portrays the education attainment at year 2, 6, 9 and 11 overall it could be seen that their percentage of representation is much less than their peer group, but on average the eligibility percentage has shown mild increase over years. For example at age 11in 2004 59% of them sat for examination (1n 2003 56.8%) on compared to 97% of them. Thus in 2004, the number of looked after children who obtained, 1 GCSE at grade A* to G or a GNVQ 56% against 97% and 5 GCSE’s (or equivalent) at grade A* to G -39.4 % against 89%or5 GCSE’s (or equivalent) at grade A* to C 9.4% against 54%. These were higher on comparison to previous years. Thus on average it is seen that 57% of children in care leave without a single GCSE or equivalent and of attending school, only 6% of them get five Cs or better at GCSE. Their exclusion rate is nine times more than their peers with a staggering percentage of 36% not entering, GCSEs at all. And the economical workout shows, an estimated £16billion raised from tax payers are to be spend for educational attainment of looked after children which approximately equals to half of England's education budget. The reason behind the disparity in education attainment of looked after children: With the issue being grave , for last 10 years there had been many studies and researches done to find out the reason for the looked after children’s poor performance in educational sector. It is generally known that the looked after children are disadvantaged population from poor social and economical background, and when dissected for reason both the children’s past and the present style of public care system’s policies are cited. The research done by National Voice, 2005 as published in their educational report shows a in depth analysis done by them to get into the root cause. The study tried to find out the main hindrance of education as felt by the children in care. Those were, Instability, the feeling of lack of security as they don’t have one stable place to live is highly unsettling them. Lack of proper place to live is found to affect them mentally. Low self esteem has a negative impact acts as a hindrance for the developments of young ones. With 97% children in care feels that education important but majority of then thinks it is too high for them. Finance, with the education getting costlier with days, the financial constraint of pursing education hits the children in care very hardly. School exclusion and inaccessible or inadequate education provisions. Lesser educational background and knowledge of foster carers. From the study it was found that the top hindrances felt by them in pursuing quality education is the emotional and psychological effect, being treated different by peer group, lack of required support from school and teachers, feeling labeled or secluded in school and the lack of enough freedom for them to choose the education they wanted. The same study shows that the children in general felt that increased support from school, more say in choice of education, ,or support from carers and social workers and general encouragement would be the apt solution for the problems. Steps and initiatives taken by the Government: With almost 50,000 children being looked after by local authorities, as seen many studies evidently shows the existence of significant gap between the academic performances between them and their peers. The Government as a remedy has introduced many laws and guidance’s to improve the rights and quality of life of looked after children. According to the latest Government Public Service agreement, PSA the governments target is to improve the educational support and stability of life with offering of same placement for at least 2.5 years. The various laws and amendments and regulation that laid by the Government over recent years are that has a impact over the looked after children are, Healthy Schools Programme ,1997; Education Action Zones 1998 , Guidance on the Education of Children 2000 ;Children’s Fund 2000 ;White Paper: Adoption: A New Approach 2000 ;Connexions service 2001 all passed by the Department of Education and Employment. On the, Every Child Matters – Green Paper presented to Parliament, Treasury September 2003, Government acted and brought about Every Child Matters- Change for Children Program, 2004. Another significant project undertaken by the Government was Taking Care of Education project- 2000-2003 project, that aimed at comparing the policies and practice to bring about improvement in Educational quality of looked after children. Other regulations of Children Act 1989, that guides over the looked after children admission, care to be taken etc. The governments initiatives and guidelines includes, Encouraging local authorities to place the looked fter children in top performing school Providing better support to prevent their exclusion Encouraging schools to offer personalized program Introducing more budgets to improve the education standard Not changing schools too often Project to privately tutor them Placing designated teacher in the school to look after the Care home children Additional teaching resource, for students fallen behind Assistance to children on critical point of transfer Introducing the virtual head teacher in all local areas to supervise the needs of children and to facilitate the smooth transfer of them from homes. Councils to be formed for children care. These , The Governments has introduced with the aim to provide full time education for all looked after children, drafting a care plan for all looked after children to address their educational needs and designating a teacher as the champion of the looked after children needs. Research Design: Rationale behind the research: With the extensive review of literature, it is understood that looked after are in educational disadvantage, the data shown by previous reports and statistics. Also it could be seen that Government of England has taken up many steps to improvise the situation. In this light it was felt that a study to reflect the changes brought in the system with the introduction of these changes would be valuable to judge the progress. So a research on this background was felt appropriate. Aim of the study: The aim of the study is to assess the changes in the education attainment of looked after children after the implement of government’s reform. This could be analyzed by comparing the following parameters of looked after children. This is planed to be studied by studying the study group’s educational achievements and their feelings towards the barriers on comparison with their state 2 years ago. Hypothesis: The hypothesis set for the study is “The educational initiative and reforms introduced over past three years has a positive effect on the education attainment of looked after children”. If the level of significance of (α) = 0.05 is obtained, it indicates that if the results have a probability of 5% or less then the hypothesis is accepted. Data collection: The sample group or study group for this study includes, the looked after children in three different group of 10-12 years, 13-15 and 16-18, who are further divided into male and female and again placed on the accommodation, children’s home, foster care, living independently etc. The group is selected so as to represent a single geographic location. The sample size designed to be large, as a large mean value would help correctly calculate the statistical difference. The study group would be randomly selected, with care taken to consider only the age factor to be matched within groups. The inclusion criteria would be all participants should be loked after children and should be there at least for 2 years at least for a year to standardize the changes felt in them. The exclusion criteria would be people below and above this age group. A method of random sampling could be done to avoid the bias that could arise. A sample size of 300 to 500 is planed. The assessment technique planned is by questionnaire , the questions would cover their views about the barriers they feel towards their education attainment and their opinion of has the state changed after the implementation of changes, and by obtaining the educational records to assess the performance over two years. Sample questionnaire, Are the staff who looks after you are sufficiently educated? Do you feel that you cannot achieve the higher grade, if so why? Does the emotional and psychological effect of personal life affect your education Are you feeling labeled in school? No help in home work and study? Having unsuitable condition? Moving around too much? All this, how they feel before and after the implementation, over two years. Data analysis: The obtained data is analyzed and the percentage is taken. Then the statistical difference is calculated using the mean value, if there is difference then hypothesis is accepted and if not is rejected. The results from the study could be statistically tested using the Independent t-test that would indicate the significant difference between the two group . This is would take into accord the according to the ‘p’ for the educational percentage at the 95% significance level of a one-tailed t-test . An independent t-test is selected as it helps us to look at the difference between the two sets of means of both groups. SSPS version 9.0 statistics programme can also be used for the analysis of the results The analysis of the data’s by this statistical method requires the calculation of mean, standard deviation and standard error mean. Then Levine’s test of equality variance may be employed for calculating the variance and significance respectively Time scale: The anticipated timescale for the research is 2 to 3 months, in which selection of sample population, obtaining ethical concern, providing questioner and collecting back the answers and the analysis of the results to arrive at the conclusion has to be undertaken.. Ethical consent: Consent is to be obtained from the participant to avoid ethical issues. The consent in school children has to be obtained from local care authorities and school authorities. References: 1. Looked-after children: new law improves education rights http://www.teachingexpertise.com/articles/looked-after-children-new-law-improves-education-rights-1771 . 2. Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 128 ,The Education (Admission of Looked After Children) (England) Regulations 2006 ,© Crown Copyright 2006 3. SFR 19/2005 , 28 April 2005 , Coverage: England , Theme: Education and Training , Issued by Department for Educationand Skills, http://www.dfes.gov.uk/ rsgateway/DB/SFR 4. Education of Looked After Children Seminar Jonathan Stanley] www.ncb.org.uk page 4 of 55 © National Children’s Bureau, June 2006 5. http://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-learning/looked-after-children/initiatives_improve_lac.htm 6. The Education of Looked After Children Review Team, Councillors Ian Burt, Richard Guichard, Adam Price and David Wildey, The Education of Looked After Children, Education and Lifelong Learning Overview and Scrutiny Committee, December 2003 7. Guidance on the Education of Children and Young People in Public Care (2000) – Department for Education and Employment and Department of Health. 8. A better education for children in care – Social Exclusion Unit – Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (September 2003), 4.11, p28 9. www.dfes.gov.uk 10. www.teachernet.gov.uk 11. www.whocarestrust.co.uk 12. The Green Paper – Every Child Matters (HMSO 2003) 13. A Better Education for Children in Care – Social Exclusion Unit report (SEU/ODPM 2003), published alongside each other in September 2003 14. Education Report By A National Voice,Can I Have Some More? www.anationalvoice.org Read More

When the education attainment figure was analyzed it was seen that, of 55% children in appropriate age group in key stage 1 , were found to attain level 2 followed by 43% achievement of level 4 at key stage 2 and 23% attaining level 5 at key stage 3. Also the data shows that in school year 11 only 56% obtained at least one GCSE or GNVQ when compared to 97% of all school children, that is seen to be better when compared to previous years of 43% not sitting in exam when compared to 41in 2004. On analyzing the figures of achievement of Grade A in at least 5 GCSE’s or equivalent it was 9% much lower to that of 53% achieved by their peer group.

This is lower when compared with last years 15%. Overall it was seen that at the school year of 11 only 59% presumed education on comparison77% of school leavers. When analyzed further the statistics released by Department for Education and Skills, England, it could be seen that the number of students who was accessed by school as with special education needs was found to have risen from 26.8% in 2003 to 27.4% 2004, but percentage of exclusion has come down from 1.1 to 0.9%. The table that portrays the education attainment at year 2, 6, 9 and 11 overall it could be seen that their percentage of representation is much less than their peer group, but on average the eligibility percentage has shown mild increase over years.

For example at age 11in 2004 59% of them sat for examination (1n 2003 56.8%) on compared to 97% of them. Thus in 2004, the number of looked after children who obtained, 1 GCSE at grade A* to G or a GNVQ 56% against 97% and 5 GCSE’s (or equivalent) at grade A* to G -39.4 % against 89%or5 GCSE’s (or equivalent) at grade A* to C 9.4% against 54%. These were higher on comparison to previous years. Thus on average it is seen that 57% of children in care leave without a single GCSE or equivalent and of attending school, only 6% of them get five Cs or better at GCSE.

Their exclusion rate is nine times more than their peers with a staggering percentage of 36% not entering, GCSEs at all. And the economical workout shows, an estimated £16billion raised from tax payers are to be spend for educational attainment of looked after children which approximately equals to half of England's education budget. The reason behind the disparity in education attainment of looked after children: With the issue being grave , for last 10 years there had been many studies and researches done to find out the reason for the looked after children’s poor performance in educational sector.

It is generally known that the looked after children are disadvantaged population from poor social and economical background, and when dissected for reason both the children’s past and the present style of public care system’s policies are cited. The research done by National Voice, 2005 as published in their educational report shows a in depth analysis done by them to get into the root cause. The study tried to find out the main hindrance of education as felt by the children in care. Those were, Instability, the feeling of lack of security as they don’t have one stable place to live is highly unsettling them.

Lack of proper place to live is found to affect them mentally. Low self esteem has a negative impact acts as a hindrance for the developments of young ones. With 97% children in care feels that education important but majority of then thinks it is too high for them. Finance, with the education getting costlier with days, the financial constraint of pursing education hits the children in care very hardly. School exclusion and inaccessible or inadequate education provisions. Lesser educational background and knowledge of foster carers.

From the study it was found that the top hindrances felt by them in pursuing quality education is the emotional and psychological effect, being treated different by peer group, lack of required support from school and teachers, feeling labeled or secluded in school and the lack of enough freedom for them to choose the education they wanted.

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