ProfessorJudySebba

Director,ReesCentreforResearchinFosteringandEducation

rees.centre@education.ox.ac.ukhttp://reescentre.education.ox.ac.uk/research/supporting-foster-carers/

Makinganimpact–theEnglandexperience

Thesessionwillcover:

1.WhatistheimpactoftheVirtualSchoolmodelinEngland(noVSinWales,Scotland,NI)?

2.Whatgapsisthevirtualschoolsmodeladdressing?

3.WhichOOHCgroupsareatgreatestriskofschooldisengagement?

4.WhatarethekeyresearchmessagesforNSWintacklingOOHCstudentsathighriskofschooldisengagement?

5.HowdoalternativeschoolsettingsinteractwiththeVirtualSchool?

6.Istherearoleforserviceproviders(equivalentofNGOsinAustralia)?

7.Howimportantisgooddata?

TheVirtualSchoolmodelinEngland•  Local Authority has a legal duty (Children Act 1989) to safeguard and

promote the welfare of a child looked after (OOHC) by them with particular duty to promote the child’s educational achievement, to appoint at least one person (the VSH) who must be an officer employed by the authority

•  One of only 7 statutory local authority roles

•  The Virtual School is a local authority service who support and challenge schools and key partners (including foster carers, social workers, NGOs) to ensure the best outcomes for OOHC

•  Responsible for OOHC/post care 0-25, professional but no statutory responsibility for adopted children and SGOs

•  Numbers of OOHC in one local authority varies hugely but 450 might be average, including those placed elsewhere

Gapsaddressed/responsibilitiesinclude:•  Narrow the attainment and progress gap between OOHC and others •  Ensure OOHC are admitted swiftly to the right school - preference •  Monitor attendance, attainment and progress •  Have strong and robust (challenging) relationships with schools – train,

support and challenge designated teachers •  Have strong and robust relationships with social care staff •  Advocate and mediate in the child’s best interests •  Quality assure Personal Education Plans to ensure they focus on outcomes •  Ensure all interested parties understand how to enhance learning •  Manage the Pupil Premium Plus •  Be accountable when OfSTED (inspectors) call

TheDesignatedTeacher(DT)•  DT school leader, usually member of senior management with

appropriate influence •  DT has lead responsibility for helping school staff understand

OOHC’s needs •  Developing a culture of high expectations and aspirations for OOHC •  Ensuring the child/young person has a voice in setting outcomes •  Ensuring high quality Personal Education Plans (PEPs) used to

ensure progress •  DT has a key role in supporting OOHC to make a smooth transition

to new school / college •  DT - central point of initial contact for social workers, VSHs, NGOs •  School governors receive an annual evaluation report on the

provision and outcomes

PersonalEducationPlan•  Statutory requirement at least 6 monthly •  Holistic context but focused on education outcomes •  SMART learning targets/outcomes

•  Clear responsibilities and accountabilities •  Involves the child (if they wish) as well as school,

carer, social worker and other professionals

•  Confirms plans for Pupil Premium Plus

PupilPremiumPlus(PPP)•  The pupil premium plus is managed by the VSH for the benefit of the

OOHC

•  OOHC (and adopted children) are eligible if looked after on the date of the local authority census (March each year), even if only for one day

•  The formula is £1900 per child aged 4 to 15 on August 31st and £300 for 0-3 year old children

•  Schools (DTs) have a responsibility to ensure that the money has a positive impact on the child’s learning

•  Ofsted requirement that schools evidence how PPP was spent and how it has benefited OOHC

•  VSH is responsible for allocation of PPP in practice – through the PEPs

PupilPremiumPlus–whatisitusedfor?In school

•  Key person – time allocation •  One-to-one tuition •  Interventions - e.g. maths support, teaching assistant •  Staff training •  Support services and alternative provision From Virtual School

•  Tuition and alternative provision •  Attendance monitoring •  Therapy services •  Training for schools e.g. attachment and trauma

WhichOOHCgroupsareatgreatestrisk,whatarekeyresearchmessagesfortacklingtheserisksandhowdoalternativesettinginteractwiththeVirtualSchool?

•  ReesCentre/UniversityofBristolstudy,fundedbyTheNuffieldFoundation

•  Linkednationaldatasetsontheeducation(NationalPupilDatabase)andcareexperiencesoflookedafterchildreninEnglishschoolsYear11

•  Interviewed26youngpeople(high-andlower-progress)insixlocalauthoritiesandwiththeircarers,teachers,socialworkersandVirtualSchoolstaff

http://reescentre.education.ox.ac.uk/research/educational-progress-of-looked-after-children/

Education

OfthoseinYear11(15-16yearolds)in2012-13:A.  4847hadbeenincare

foratleastayear

B.  1387hadbeenincarelessthanayear

C.  13,599were‘ChildreninNeed’

D.  Therewere622,970otheryoungpeople

Education

0

100

200

300

400

D A C B

Averagepointsin8bestexams(0–464)

66%oftheindividualdifferencesinKS4scorescanbeexplainedjustusingthesevariables

FSMatKS1

IDACIatKS1

HomelanguageatKS1

Gender

Ethnicity PrimarySEN

Carecareertype

MeanSDQscore

Lengthoftimeincare

PlacementchangessinceKS2

Lengthoflatest

placement

Innon-fosterplacementat

KS4

Placedoutofauthority

atKS4

FSMatKS4

IDACIatKS4

HomelanguageatKS4

SchoolchangesinYear10-11

Unauthorisedabsences

Fixed&permanentexclusions

Innon-mainstreamschoolatKS4

EARLYENVIRONMENT

INDIVIDUAL

CAREPLACEMENTS

KS2scores

RELATEDTOSCHOOLING

Strongestpredictors

Male-7.59**

ASD-38.21***MLD-10.40*

SMLD-87.56***

Disability-18.19*

HigherSDQscore

-1.74***

ChangessinceKS2-2.31***Lengthoflatestplacement0.003*

Non-fosterplacementKS4-37.30***

OtherlanguageatKS4

-18.84*

ChangeinYear10-11-33.93***Unauthorisedabsences-255.46***

Fixed-termexclusions-0.54***

Non-mainstream-60.25***

to-121.36***

EARLYENVIRONMENT

INDIVIDUAL

CAREPLACEMENTS

RELATEDTOSCHOOLINGKS2scores39.61***

Whatdoesthismeanforyoungpeople?•  StudentsinOut-of-HomeCaredidbetterthanthosewhowere‘inneed’

butnotincare,andbetterthanthosewhohadbeenincareforunder12months,socareprotectsthem.

•  Youngpeopleinfosterorkinshipcareatage16scoredhigherthanthoseinresidentialorotherplacementtypesespeciallyalternativecare.

•  Youngpeoplewhochangedschoolduringfinaltwoyearsscoredoverfivegradeslessthanthosewhodidn’t.

•  Forevery5%ofschoolsessionsmissed-unauthorisedabsences,youngpeoplescoredtwogradesless.

•  Foreveryadditionaldayofschoolmissedduetofixed-termexclusions,youngpeoplescoredone-sixthofagradeless.

Factorsaffectingeducationaloutcomes

26youngpeopleinterviewedsuggestedimportantfactorswere:•  keyadult(notalwaysteacher)intheschool•  teachersmostimportanteducationalinfluence.InQueensland,76%ofchildrenin

OOHCwantedmoresupportfromteachersandschoolstafftobemoreinvolvedintheirlives(CCYPCG2008)

•  fostercarers’levelofeducationalsupportseemedmoreimportantthantheireducationalqualificationsperse–newanalysisshowsimportanceofaspirations

•  YP’scontroloverthesituation,alsoemergingin‘matching’work•  YP’schoicenottobeidentifiedasincare•  interventionsthatsupportedthemsuchasone-to-onetuition•  long-term(negative)impactofresponsibilityforabirthparentaffectedby

substance/alcoholabuse,mentalillnessThesefindings,inparticulartheimportanceofakeyadultandnotbeingidentifiedasinOOHC(beingseenas‘normal’)emergefromallourstudiesinwhichyoungpeopleareinterviewed

OutcomesofLondonFosteringAchievementProgrammethattrained2500carersineducation

•  Generictrainingwellreceived-mixofpeople(e.g.fostercarers,teachers,socialworkers)enabledthemtobetterunderstandeachother’sroles.

•  Somefostercarerschallengedtheschools’allocationofPupilPremiumPlusasadirectimpactoftheProgramme.

•  TheEducationChampionshadmostimpactprovidingfostercarerswithinformation,accompaniedcarerstoeducationmeetings,directsupporttoyoungpeopleandincreasedconfidenceofcarers.

EducationChampionsareexperiencedcarersusuallywithsomeexperienceofschools,employed10hours/wktosupportcarers.

Evaluationofattachmentawarenesstraining•  Teachersreportbeinginsufficientlypreparedtoworkeffectivelywithyoungpeople

whoexperiencetraumaandattachmentissues•  AttachmentAwareSchoolsProgrammefor25stafffrom16schools–awareness

raisingsessions,elearning,consultantsupportforplanning,evaluationand‘emotioncoaching’

•  Increasedconfidenceandgreaterunderstandingofwhypupilsbehaveinparticularways–thereasonsbehindthebehaviour

•  Recognisingemotionsbeforemanagingbehaviours,changingcommunicationstylesandlanguageusedwithpupils/staff

•  Schoolenvironmenthasbecomecalmer/morenurturing•  Providingspacesinwhichchildrencancalmdownandself-regulate•  Havingasignificantadultinschoolthatthepupiltrusted

Theroleofdata–TheNuffieldanalysis•  Linkingnationaldatasetsontheeducation(NationalPupil

Database)andcareexperiencesoflookedafterchildreninEngland(SSDA903)–similartoAustralianNationalMinimumDataSet–  toexploretherelationshipbetweeneducationaloutcomes,the

children’scarehistoriesandindividualcharacteristics,andpracticeandpolicyindifferentlocalauthorities

•  Havenowstartedanotheranalysislookingatthosewhocomein

andoutofcareandthoseinneed.

•  InAustralia,regularlinkageofchildprotectionandNAPLANdatawillbeneededtomonitorchanges.