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No University For 99%
Children
in care under-represented.
This year while 43% of all under 30 year olds will make
the journey up the ladder of further education, less than one in
100 of care leavers will go to university.
NCH's report Close The Gap highlights data on the lack of children in
care that succeed in the education system.
There are an estimated 61,000 children and young people in care in England,
slightly more of them boys than girls (55% boys in care compared to 51%
boys in the population as a whole).
Since 2000, the gap in achievement between children
in care and other children has actually grown by two percent.
In the best performing local authority 83% of care leavers achieve at least
one GCSE or GNVQ; in the worst it is just 16%.
In 2004 just six percent of children left care with five or more GCSEs compared with 53% of pupils overall.
NCH Chief Executive, Clare Tickell says: 'The gap in achievement between children in care and the comparable general population is a systems failure. Children in care are the responsibility of the State and how well we serve them is a measure of how our society treats children more generally. At the moment we are letting them down and consigning many to social exclusion when they grow up. If we do not tackle this issue today it will cost society tomorrow.'
The report sets out specific programmes of action for central and local government, schools, social workers, teachers, carers, inspectorates, the NHS, and the young people themselves.
Central government must create the right laws and policies and give a strategic lead – for example, it must tackle the problem of school admissions and develop a long term vision for the care system.
Local government must take its corporate parenting responsibilities with the same seriousness as any other parent.
Teachers must set high but realistic expectations for children in care.
Social workers must emphasise the valuing of education in their recruitment of carers and management of placements and providers.
Schools and their Governors must focus on securing real improvements in the educational outcomes for children in care, not stop when they have simply implemented the required processes.
To download a copy of the report click here:
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