Listening to the experts: Learning about relationships and their impact on educational experiences from children and young people in state care

Rees, Alyson ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2363-4965, Roberts, Louise ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6154-3549, Mannay, Dawn ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7368-4111, Evans, Rhiannon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0239-6331, Staples, Eleanor and Hallett, Sophie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7792-4453 2022. Listening to the experts: Learning about relationships and their impact on educational experiences from children and young people in state care. Relational Social Work 6 (2) , pp. 36-57. 10.14605/RSW622202

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Abstract

This paper reports on the findings from a qualitative study involving 67 children, in or having left care. The research formed part of a project commissioned by Welsh Government which was concerned with educational experiences in Wales, UK. Visual and creative techniques were used to support children’s and young people’s participation in semi-structured interviews and focus groups and care experienced peer researchers took an active role in the fieldwork. The study identified some of the unintended conflicts, consequences, and challenges of well-meaning practice interventions, and highlighted the importance of working with and listening to the experiences of children and young people in care. It also emphasised the salience of children’s and young people’s relational well-being, something rarely considered in an educational context, and argued that the relational aspects of negotiating the care experience merit further attention. Participants’ experiences suggest that there is still much to do in dismantling the structural barriers and the impact of being labelled as ‘looked after', but that by engaging with and listening to the accounts of young people we can move towards developing more informed and effective strategies that can improve both policy and practice.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer) Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre (CASCADE)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HM Sociology L Education > L Education (General)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	care experienced children and young people; foster care; education; looked-after children; care system; state care
Publisher:	Erickson
ISSN:	2532-3814
Funders:	Welsh Government
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	8 November 2022
Date of Acceptance:	3 October 2022
Last Modified:	17 Nov 2023 23:13
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/154004

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