Partners in learning

Looked after children and young people often describe very different experiences of their relationships with teachers. The importance of understanding and supportive teachers should not be underestimated. Looked after children and young people say they particularly value the support and understanding of teachers at crucial times, such as when their lives are disrupted or when they are in trouble at school.

Provision of support should be part of the formal responsibility of the designated senior member of staff or a guidance teacher, but the message from research is that many looked after young people benefit greatly from having a strong ‘mentoring’ relationship with a teacher, who may be a primary class teacher or secondary subject teacher with whom they particularly get on. Provision of this kind of support should simply be an extension of the normal pastoral care arrangements in a school.

Being treated differently

The provision of extra support needs to be handled sensitively and discreetly. Although looked after children and young people want their teachers to be encouraging and understanding, they may also worry about being made to feel different from other pupils. Whilst it is helpful to be aware of the potential difficulties associated with being looked after, it is important that children and young people are treated as individuals with particular support requirements.

Many looked after children and young people say that teachers have negative attitudes towards them. For example, they can be highly sensitive to the language and tone used by teachers, which may cause unintended offence or upset. Some may feel rejected by teachers.

Young people’s ideas about what they find helpful and what is not helpful

Bullying

Many looked after children and young people experience unwelcome attention which seems to stem from their circumstances. Sometimes the behaviour of other pupils is the result of curiosity expressed inappropriately. On other occasions these situations can become more unpleasant, developing into bullying.

Children and young people react differently to such occurrences, depending on how they feel at the time, or what personal resources or skills they have to draw on. They might ignore taunts, or else stand up to people, or they might get angry and lash out. Some children and young people describe experiences of reacting physically to bullying, as a result of frustration at lack of support in the school, and finding the situation has escalated to such an extent that it leads to exclusion or truanting.

Carers and teachers need to collaborate to ensure that looked after children and young people do not experience additional stress caused by bullying. Every school should have a policy on bullying and established anti-bullying strategies.

Acting with sensitivity

Many looked after children and young people express little confidence in their teachers’ abilities to handle sensitive situations, such as handling of instances of discrimination and bullying, classroom exercises which may expose details of family life and careless or inappropriate disclosure by teachers of confidential information.

There are different views about which teachers should have access to information about a child or young person’s care status, how much information they need to have and, indeed, whether teachers should have this kind of personal information at all. Many looked after children and young people feel that their rights to privacy are grossly abused, and their confidence in the support available within school can be undermined by the resultant lack of trust.

Most professionals are agreed that carers and social workers need to share information about looked after children and young people with schools. This should allow teachers to take account of children’s circumstances when working with them. Detailed information should probably be known only to certain teachers, such as the designated senior manager, primary class teacher or guidance teacher. Children and young people’s fears about possible stigma and discrimination should be taken seriously and they should be given opportunities for discussion about who needs to know, the information to be divulged and the method of communication.

Partnership with parents

Unless parental rights and responsibilities have been removed, parental involvement in a child’s education should not be affected by the looked after status of the child or young person. Parents (who retain parental rights and responsibilities) of looked after children and young people should be actively encouraged to work in partnership with the local authority, ie the 'corporate parent', to encourage and support the looked after child or young person to maximise their educational potential.

It is essential that parents (who retain parental rights and responsibilities) of looked after children and young people are kept fully informed about their child’s education. For example, they should routinely receive information in relation to parents’ evenings, attendance, exclusion and attainment regarding their child. In addition, parents should be fully involved in the planning processes in relation to meeting the looked after child or young person’s educational needs.

It should be noted, however, that the above guidance does not apply when a looked after child or young person’s care plan specifically states that there should be no involvement with the parent, even if they retain parental rights and responsibilities. The most likely reason behind this decision is that it is in the best interest of the child or young person, eg for child protection reasons.