Getting the most out of school

There is no doubt that looked after children will often experience greater difficulties within the school setting than their peers. They need their carers to talk to their teachers, to think up ways of helping them integrate, and to explain behaviours for which they themselves may have no explanation.

Looked after children at school

There has been a long-held assumption in schools that if looked after children are, in the name of ‘equality of opportunity’, treated in exactly the same way as other children, they will eventually flourish and reach their academic potential. If that were the case, why would looked after children perform significantly less well in schools than children of similar ability?

Nine per cent of looked after children obtained at least five GCSEs (or equivalent) at grades A*-C compared with 54 per cent of all children. Nineteen per cent of councils had at least 15 per cent of their children achieving at this level. This compares with 15 per cent of councils in 2003.

Latest available statistics for year 2004 issued by the Department for Education and Skills.

The report, A Better Education for Children in Care (Social Exclusion Unit, 2003) was commissioned to look at what needs to be done to improve the education of looked after children, and to improve on such statistics. Five key issues were identified:

• Too many young people’s lives are characterised by instability
• Young people in care spend too much time out of school or other places of learning
• Children do not have sufficient help with their education if they get behind
• Carers are not expected, or equipped, to provide sufficient support and encouragement for learning and development
• Children in care need more help with their emotional, mental or physical help and well-being.

The trauma of being looked after

Reasons why a child comes into the ‘care’ system are unique. The events leading up to separation from family may be sudden and catastrophic, or may develop over time. The parting may be planned and mutually agreed or be abrupt and confrontational. Whatever the circumstances, and however much care is exercised by statutory agencies, there is one result which should be universally acknowledged – separation will cause stress and trauma to the child.

Trauma means injury. It is important to understand that traumatic injury disrupts the child’s ability to learn. A child coming into care may have had long-term, even pre-birth, needs unmet in several key developmental and emotional areas. The child with unmet needs may present a wide range of behaviours which, if they are not understood, can cause significant difficulties, including ongoing problems, at school. For instance, children who miss out on ‘normal’ stages of attachment, such as being helped to forge a sense of identity, or develop trust and empathy, may find that this impacts upon their learning in the classroom.

Recovering from trauma

Fortunately, it is usually possible for children to recover from their traumatic experience of loss or separation, or, if full recovery isn’t possible, to adapt sufficiently well to function acceptably.

The most important person in the recovery – or ‘adapting’ – process of a child is usually the carer, through offering the chance to form secure, stable attachment relationships. But what can the school do to also support recovery?

A child who is having difficulty managing their impulsive behaviour might behave in a variety of ways. They may find that day-to-day school life provokes strong feelings, such as rage or overwhelming shame, and that they become controlling of others or the ‘loaded gun’ of the school playground, who is exploited by others because of the ease with which they can be triggered to react.

Impact at school

To the teacher in the classroom, this behaviour can cause enormous stress – the child is indiscriminately aggressive, denies responsibility, cannot maintain any kind of eye contact when questioned, and may be unable to account for their actions, or appear to listen and say ‘sorry’, only to go and do the same again. Such behaviours quickly lead to staff frustration, pupil exclusion from classrooms, repeated detentions or other punishments, and short and, eventually, long-term exclusions from school.

In this situation, a clear plan of action can evolve if the carer can discuss with school staff how they are seeking to work with the child to help them control their impulsive behaviour. It should be possible to find a member of staff who will want to help, but if this proves difficult, you could contact the designated teacher (go to definitions) to help staff understand the issues surrounding trauma. It is also important for the child to have a person in school with whom they can develop a trusting relationship.

Working with children

Some suggested ways of working with the child might be:

• Help them to find their own ‘triggers’ and ‘indicators’: show friendly interest in the inner world of the child, and encourage them to take an interest in their own reactions
• Help them to find their own ways of controlling their behaviour: the child might not be able to manage the trigger but they can learn how to manage their response to the trigger, through recognising how their body reacts
• Encourage a ‘think first’ approach: they have to learn to recognise their reaction, relax and stop their reaction before it happens, and think about what action to take
• Develop other strategies of controlling behaviour: create ‘safe spaces’, literally and in imagination; use simple counter-triggers, such as breathing and memory prompts; notice and comment on small signs of progress; and encourage the child to notice how their feelings change as they control their impulses.

Such a programme of action may take considerable time and effort to show results – with some children, it may even take years. But if carers and school staff can share an understanding of trauma and its effects, can use the same vocabulary when describing those effects and can use that shared understanding to apply common therapeutic strategies, then the chances of traumatised children achieving their educational potential will be hugely increased.

Helping your child to learn

Find a way to talk to your school – the designated teacher should be a good place to start. And keep talking! When choosing a school, seek out its designated teacher policy and look for other clues of how your adopted or fostered child will fit in, such as the attitudes of people like the head teacher, senior staff and governors, or how the school integrates children from different backgrounds.

There is no better way to get a feel for the ethos of a school than to walk its corridors and classrooms. Will the head allow a child to show you around or will you be given the 'guided tour'? Experience will soon give you useful insights into the underlying attitudes that prevail in the school you visit. Good luck!

Chris Stanway is assistant head at a comprehensive school and their designated teacher for looked after children. She is also associated with Akamas, a company providing online training for carers and school staff.

Originally published in the Be My Parent newspaper in September 2006.

This article is published with the kind permission of the people involved. You may download it for your own reference but if you wish to use it for any other purpose, please contact Be My Parent for authorisation: Be My Parent, BAAF, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Telephone: 020 7421 2666/5/4.

Last updated: 14 August 07

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