Children in care in education: Who is entered for exams and who reaches critical thresholds of success at age 16?

Being entered for exams and reaching key educational thresholds, for example 5 A* to C grades (including English and Mathematics) at GCSE, are important markers of participation and success in secondary education. However, little is known about the prevalence and make-up of children in care reaching these thresholds. Using secondary data analysis, we compared the proportions of children in care, children ‘in need’ and children in the general population who achieved four key thresholds, including exam entry and 5 A* to C grades, including English and Mathematics. We then focused on children in care and examined factors that predicted exam entry and achieving 5 A* to C grades, including English and Mathematics. Children receiving social care interventions were less likely than children in the general population to be entered for exams or to reach important educational thresholds. For children in care, several socio-demographic, care and educational factors predicted their likelihood of success. No children with an autistic spectrum disorder or who had ever been permanently excluded were recorded to have achieved 5 A* to C grades, including English and Mathematics. Children with poor attainment at Key Stage 2 were also at significant risk of not achieving this threshold. Practitioners and policymakers should consider the modifiable risk factors for poor educational performance and be aware of groups of children in care who are at significant risk of not achieving a minimum standard which could open doors for their future.     

Dropping out because of the others: bullying among the students of Estonian vocational schools

Although it is arguably a fundamental democratic or human right of a child to feel safe at school, many children and adolescents have to face peer victimisation in schools on a daily basis, and occasionally through several levels of education. Long-term victimisation may have detrimental consequences for the victim, including a negative effect on educational attainment. This study provides an insight into the lives of five young people who have dropped out or are at risk of dropping out from Estonian vocational schools because of peer victimisation. The study is based on in-depth face-to-face personal interviews. Four superordinate themes with associated subthemes are addressed: ‘experience of victimisation’, ‘social context’, ‘lack of support’, and ‘quitting as a survival strategy’. The stories of the bullying victims reveal how the victimisation has shaped them and their educational pathways by compelling them to discontinue their vocational training.     

Behaviour,race and inclusion

Abstract

This article argues that because of the practice in the 1960s of placing black children in so-called ‘educational subnormal’ units there is now a reluctance to look at the speci?c needs of African Caribbean children. The post-Warnock politics of integration/inclusion following this period point to the ‘institutional racism’ of schools and white teachers to explain poor exam results. This article argues that in the current political climate which prioritizes ‘inclusion’ we should not patronize the black child. There is a need to position the factors of oppression equally with other factors of underachievement; to re-employ psychological, behavioural and educational tools as well as to deconstruct school processes and teacher attitudes; and to consider psychosocial factors related to underachievement without forgetting the reality of institutional racism. The article illustrates a research project that looks at the pastoral needs of African Caribbean children. It points to these needs as the key variable in unlocking their underachievement at school.     

Young adults who re‐enter Australian high schools and drop out again

A survey of 1233 Australian school dropouts who re‐entered high school examined the characteristics associated with their subsequent continuation or departure from school. A suite of socioeducational factors was found to correlate with students who were unsuccessful in their reentry attempts. These repeat dropouts exhibited disproportionately as ‘homeless’, as having experienced unemployment, and as being less educationally and occupationally ambitious than those who remain enrolled in their courses. They were more likely to be enrolled at traditional high schools rather than innovative secondary colleges, and to be experiencing practical, interpersonal and discipline‐related problems whilst at school. Discriminant analysis indicated that re‐entry student dropout was most parsimoniously predicted by three factors: extent of interpersonal conflict, educational aspirations and type of school. Implications for the identification and retention of re‐entry students are discussed.     

Visible pedagogic work: parenting,private tutoring and educational advantage in Australia

This article explores parents’ use of private tutoring services for their primary school children in Sydney, Australia's largest city. Using Bernstein's theories of invisible and visible pedagogies, we look, through the eyes of a small group of middle-class Chinese-background interviewees, at the tensions between certain pedagogic forms associated with private tutoring and schooling in contemporary contexts of educational competition. We show how some parents are openly seeking more explicit, visible forms of instruction through using private tutoring, to compensate for the perceived ‘invisible’, pedagogically progressive approach of Australian primary schooling. We argue that these parents’ enlistment of supplementary tutoring is a considered approach to their identification of a mismatch between (apparently) relaxed, child-centred classroom practices, and the demands of the more traditional examinations that regulate entry points to desired educational sites such as academically selective high schools and prestigious universities. Our findings show how paid tutoring is a contemporary pedagogic strategy for securing educational advantage, not just a ‘cultural’ practice prevalent among certain migrant communities, as it is often characterised. We suggest that an analytic focus on pedagogy can help connect issues of class, culture and competition in research on home–school relationships, offering a productive way for the field to respond to the tensions these issues engender.     

‘If they don't recognize it,you've got to deal with it yourself’: gender,young caring and educational support

This articles discusses some of the findings of a small‐scale, localized, qualitative study involving children and young people identified and processed as young carers, that are providing ‘substantial care’ for an adult while in primary and/or secondary school. It explores their views on managing to ‘care more’ whilst at school and the role that teachers and schools do and could play in supporting them. The voices of young carers suggest that educational support should be available ‘as soon as’ children become primary carers. The interviewees were critical of the factors that they perceived compromised their ‘performance’ at school. Some implications of these findings for implementing strategies for carers in schools are discussed.     

Relationship between out-of-home care placement history characteristics and educational achievement: A population level linked data study

Studies generally show children who have entered out-of-home care have worse educational outcomes than the general population, although recent research suggests maltreatment and other adversities are major contributing factors. Children’s out-of-home care experiences vary and may affect their outcomes. This study examined the influence of placement stability, reunification, type of care, time in care and age at entry to care on children’s educational outcomes. We conducted a population-based record-linkage study of children born in Western Australia between 1990 and 2010 who sat State or national Year 3 reading achievement tests (N = 235,045 children, including 2160 children with a history of out-of-home care). Children’s educational outcomes varied with many aspects of their care experience. Children placed in residential care were particularly likely to have low scores, with an unadjusted OR 6.81, 95% CI[4.94, 9.39] for low reading scores, which was partially attenuated after adjusting for background risk factors but remained significant (OR = 1.50, 95% CIs [1.08, 2.08]). Reading scores were also lower for children who had experienced changes in care arrangements in the year of the test. A dose-response effect for multiple placements was expected but not found. Older age at entering care was also associated with worse reading scores. Different characteristics of a child’s care history were interwoven with each other as well as child, family and neighbourhood characteristics, highlighting a need for caution in attributing causality. Although the level of educational difficulties varied, the findings suggest a widespread need for additional educational support for children who have entered care, including after reunification.     

Can holistic school readiness evaluations predict academic achievement and special educational needs status? Evidence from the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile

This study examined the predictive validity of holistic school readiness evaluations using the ‘good level of development’ outcome from the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP). The EYFSP assesses a range of abilities at school entry including academic, language, socio-emotional, and motor skills. In particular, we examined whether the assessment predicted reading, writing, maths, and science ability two years later and future special educational needs (SEN) status (N = 3739–5768). Children who reached a good level of development had higher odds of performing at expected (vs. below expected) levels on later academic assessments. This was particularly true for children with SEN. Reaching a good level of development also increased the odds of performing at above expected (vs. expected) levels on the academic assessments and lowered the odds of requiring SEN support. This demonstrates that holistic school readiness evaluations are powerful tools that can identify ‘at risk’ children.     

Do school entry laws affect educational attainment and labor market outcomes?

Age based school entry laws force parents and educators to consider an important tradeoff: though students who are the youngest in their school cohort typically have poorer academic performance, on average, they have slightly higher educational attainment. In this paper we document that for a large cohort of California and Texas natives the school entry laws increased educational attainment of students who enter school early, but also lowered their academic performance while in school. However, we find no evidence that the age at which children enter school effects job market outcomes, such as wages or the probability of employment. This suggests that the net effect on adult labor market outcomes of the increased educational attainment and poorer academic performance is close to zero.     

Inclusion in a South African high school? Reporting and reflecting on what learners say

A concern with formal and epistemological access to schools can neglect the importance of access to the informal school and the friendships and sense of belonging that this implies. Despite the challenges of ‘voice’ research, listening to what young people have to say about their experiences of, and attitudes towards social inclusion and exclusion at school may help to identify and address exclusionary pressures. This article reports on a study conducted at an inclusive high school in South Africa where learners have only known a diverse peer group. Despite this, questionnaire and focus group interview responses show that learners have ambivalent attitudes about Others. They position themselves and their school as ‘normal’ and show a mixture of empathy, prejudice and patronisation as they consider how they might respond to peers or a fictional character who is different from them. These Grade 10 learners have strong feelings about who should be admitted to their school, and they identify some exclusionary practices that operate in their social world. Their attitudes cannot be considered apart from a schooling system which normalises educational separation and exclusion and a pedagogy of compassion is suggested as a way to enable young people to address their prejudices towards Others.     

The ‘German children’ of Mozambique: long-term legacies of a socialist educational experiment

State-led education policies that centre on citizenship formation and are based on socialist-inspired values have been found in many newly independent post-colonial regimes. Such policies have led to a number of educational exchange programmes between developing countries and former ‘Eastern Bloc’ countries. This paper looks at an ambitious secondary school education exchange programme between Mozambique and the former German Democratic Republic in the 1980s. Using Yuval-Davis' three analytical categories of social location, identification and emotional attachment, and ethical and political values, the paper shows how an important part of the identity of former participants in a school exchange programme, who returned to Mozambique in 1988, is built around the concept of being ‘German’ and ‘socialist’. These values of socialist solidarity continue to guide many aspects of participants' lives. However, because in contemporary post-structural adjustment capitalist Mozambique, such values are perceived as a hindrance to contemporary notions of citizenship, these values are lived out mainly in relation to their peer group of fellow ‘German children’.     

Mapping the educational experiences of children with pathological demand avoidance

‘Pathological demand avoidance’ (PDA) describes a pattern of difficulties increasingly recognised as forming part of the autistic spectrum. Although clinical reports suggest that children with PDA are likely to experience considerable difficulties in education, their educational experiences have not yet been explored in any systematic way. In the current study, 42 parents of children with PDA completed a questionnaire about their child's educational experiences. Parents' responses indicated that this group of children displays high levels of problem behaviours in school, and receives corresponding high levels of special educational need support and professional involvement. Despite this support, the group had experienced high rates of exclusion and placement breakdown, with only 48% now in mainstream education. Parents reported relatively high satisfaction in their children's educational placements, with success defined by parents in terms of child outcomes, school characteristics and PDA‐specific factors. Findings are discussed with reference to what is known about the educational experiences of children with more typical autism spectrum conditions and in terms of the implications for the inclusion of this group of children with complex needs.     

Balancing pressures for SENCos as managers,leaders and advocates in the emerging context of the Covid-19 pandemic

This article considers the role of the SENCo during Covid-19 pandemic conditions of school lockdown with partial reopening for children classified as ‘vulnerable’. It is argued that the existing pressures and tensions already experienced by SENCos – for example, related to time, workload, status, and their prescribed managerial and strategic role – have been highlighted by pandemic conditions. Pressures resulting specifically from the pandemic are reflected by considering how SENCos will adjust to enact their role during this time. It is concluded that an advocacy role for pupils with special educational needs and disability, who are at risk of becoming increasingly marginalised within school and wider communities during this pandemic, should now be considered a central element of the SENCo’s remit.     

Experiencing an ‘inclusive’ education: parents and their children with ‘special educational needs’

This paper focuses on the experiences of British parents who have children identified with ‘special education needs’ within mainstream education. Expectations of mainstream education can have a negative affect on parents when a child is unable to maintain his or her education within a mainstream school. In England and Wales, ‘inclusion’ within mainstream schools is implemented by the current government and promoted as anti‐exclusionary. However, current research indicates that actual ‘inclusion’ (the child experiencing inclusion as well as being placed in a mainstream environment) is not necessarily occurring in practice. As it stands, the conflict is between desires to embrace difference based on a philosophy of ‘equal rights’ (‘inclusive’ education) and prioritising educational performance, structuring it in such a way that it leaves little room for difference and creativity due to the highly structured testing and examination culture. Qualitative analysis of parents who have children identified with special educational needs indicate that they have hopes and expectations for their children. These hopes and expectations are challenged recurrently.     

Does early schooling narrow outcome gaps for advantaged and disadvantaged children?

This paper explores how starting school at a younger age affects the developmental score gaps between relatively advantaged and disadvantaged children. While previous findings suggest that delaying school entry may improve school readiness, less is known about whether it has differential effects for advantaged and disadvantaged children. For disadvantaged children, starting school early may be a better alternative to staying at home for longer as school provides a more stable and educational environment than the family home, overcompensating for the penalties of starting school early. This may be less applicable to relatively advantaged children who generally have greater access to resources in the home and who are more likely to utilise formal pre-school services. We use the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children to investigate if there is support for this hypothesis. The endogeneity of school starting age is addressed using the regression discontinuity design. We find that an early school start generally improves children’s cognitive skills, which is even more pronounced for disadvantaged children. In contrast, an early school start tends to negatively affect children’s non-cognitive skills with both advantaged and disadvantaged children affected in similar ways. Thus, our findings suggest that an earlier school entry may narrow the gaps in cognitive skills, whereas the gaps in non-cognitive skills are not affected by the school starting age.     

Pupil mobility,attainment and progress in primary school

This article presents an analysis of the association between pupil mobility and educational attainment in the 2002 national end of Key Stage 2 (KS2) tests for 11‐year‐old pupils in an inner London education authority. The results show that pupil mobility is strongly associated with low attainment in the end of key stage tests. However, the negative association with pupil mobility is reduced by half when account is taken of other pupil background factors known to be related to educational attainment (such as special educational need and socio‐economic disadvantage), and is eliminated entirely when account is also taken of pupils' prior attainment as indicated by end of KS1 test scores at age 7. Thus there is no indication that changing school has a negative impact on educational progress during primary school. Pupils who join their school during KS2 from other schools in England are more likely to be ‘at risk’ of low attainment due to higher levels of socio‐economic disadvantage, a greater need for support in relation to English as an additional language, a higher incidence and greater severity of special educational needs and pre‐existing low attainment at the end of KS1. A key factor in understanding the relationship between mobility and attainment is the reason for mobility. One‐third of mobile pupils had arrived from schools outside of England, often as refugees, asylum seekers or economic migrants, and these pupils accounted for the major part of the effect ascribed to ‘pupil mobility’. The low attainment of these pupils is the result not of ‘changing school’ but of a broad range of factors including substantial cultural, educational and social adjustment.     

关于学校弱势儿童的若干基本问题初探

学校弱势儿童是指在学校教育领域中,所拥有的教育资源相对匮乏,学校生活质量相对低劣,人格或身心结构存在一定问题或缺陷,处于发展的不利境地的在校儿童。构成其现实地位的各种弱势因素表现为原因源、权重性和置换率等三个分析维度。应该对学校弱势儿童进行概念整合和类别分析,研制简便可靠的评定测量手段,进一步研究其人格发展特征及其与教育内外环境的关系,寻求教育力量逆转其发展的途径与方法。     

Parent preferences and parent choices: the public–private decision about school choice

School choice survey data from the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, a large county‐wide school district, is analysed to examine the characteristics of parents who consider choosing private schools for their children and those who do not. We examine differences in background, including race, educational attainment and socioeconomic status, as well as differences in parent satisfaction with their child’s previous school, parent involvement in school, parents’ priorities in school choice, as well as parents’ social networks. After controlling for background characteristics, we find that parent satisfaction with their child’s previous school was not a predictor of considering a private school. Rather, parent involvement seems to be a more important indicator of whether or not a parent would consider sending their child to a private school. In this case, parents are not ‘pushed’ away from public schools, contrary to much public rhetoric that suggests private schools are somehow inherently ‘better’ than public schools and parents who are dissatisfied with their public schools will opt for private schools. Instead, these findings suggest a ‘pull’ towards private schools. Parents may perceive that parent involvement and parent communication are more easily facilitated and valued in private schools.     

The risk of delayed school entry in relation to migration background in different institutional settings

In Germany, children of immigrants are faced with delayed school entry about twice as often as children of native-born parents because they are more often diagnosed not being ready for school. We investigate these early educational inequalities, focusing on the interplay of individual competencies and the institutional context in terms of the school enrollment procedure. We compare the conventional procedure, where school enrollment is supposed to be bound on school readiness, with reformed procedures where school enrollment is not supposed to be bound on school readiness. Data of school entry examinations from Hesse, Germany from 2008–2012 are analyzed (N = 50,717). The results show that children of immigrants from all origin groups have a substantially higher risk of obtaining a recommendation for delayed school entry than children of native-born parents. However, these ethnic differences are strongly reduced in the reformed procedures as compared to the conventional school enrollment procedure, indicating that these procedures could be an effective measure to reduce ethnic educational inequalities at school start.     

Vocational education in Nigeria: A preliminary appraisal

This paper examines the vocational education aspects of the new National Policy on Education (NPE) in Nigeria. The NPE advocates a 6+3+3+4 system which means that the educational system would be divided into six years of primary school, three years in a junior secondary school, three years in either a senior secondary school, a technical or teacher training college and four years in a university. The junior secondary school will be terminal for those who do not have the aptitude for the more academic subjects of senior secondary school and the emphasis at this stage would be both pre-vocational and academic. While it is generally thought that the vocational provision outline in the NPE would help to lay the foundation for a modern technological society, it is clearly an over-simplistic appraisal of the Nigerian socio-economic background. First, the selection for the trainees in vocational education is not usually from an open population in terms of relevant characteristics but from a closed population, those who had already proved to be of lower than average ability, by failing to gain entry to the ‘academic’ senior secondary school. The social implication of such a situation is that trainees in vocational education are caught up in an ‘ecological niche’ in society as fishermen, miners and other direct producers. Secondly, when the elite, the top federal government officials, advocate vocational expansion, it is often for other peoples' children rather than their own. Furthermore, as could be seen from the results of the Udoji report set by the government to harmonize civil service salaries, those who had academic qualifications from schooling rather than vocational qualifications were more favoured. Thus this paper calls for a rethink of the NPE, bearing in mind the realities of the Nigerian educational system and the job market.