Aoife%20O'Higgins: List of publications

The right to education for all children, including asylum-seeking children, is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, there is little research available to describe the educational provision provided to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in England. Crucially, it is not known whether the educational needs are met by the provision available to UASC. In the most recent figures, the number of UASC in England has risen by 130% since 2013, to 4,480. Schools, ‘virtual schools’ responsible for children in care, social workers, and policymakers wish to know how this population is currently being served and how they might better serve them. This paper presents the findings from a mapping exercise on education available to UASC in England including 12 semi-structured interviews with virtual school heads, teachers, social workers, and charity education providers; document analysis; a workshop at the Department of Education with key stakeholders; and summary statistics. It highlights gaps in data and provision; conceptualises types of provision into bespoke, mainstream, and English language; and analyses how provision interacts with assessment and support needs. What emerges is a framing of provision through an integration lens and an agenda for future research and practice.

It is recognised internationally that children in out-of-home care (‘children in care’ or ‘children looked after’) generally have lower educational attainments than other pupils. This article provides two forms of evidence that challenge the view that care status in itself can explain this ‘attainment gap’. A systematic review of 28 studies was conducted to assess the evidence on whether being in care is detrimental to young people's educational outcomes. This is complemented by an analysis of administrative data from England, which compares the educational outcomes of children in care at age 16 to those of children in the general population and to other children supported by social services. Taken together, the findings suggest that while research demonstrates an important attainment gap between children in care and children in the general population, this difference is reduced and in many cases disappears when other important factors are taken into consideration to reduce selection bias. We find little evidence that being in care is detrimental to the educational outcomes of children looked after, but suggest that given the heterogeneity of the population, special attention should be paid to different groups of children and their particular needs while in care.

Maltreated young persons in out-of-home care often have poor educational outcomes, heightening their risk of long-term psychosocial disadvantage (Forsman, Brännström, Vinnerljung, & Hjern, 2016). In their systematic reviews, Romano, Babchishin, Marquis, and Fréchette (2014) and O’Higgins, Sebba, and Gardner (in press) found evidence that neglect was more often linked with low academic achievement, whereas abuse was more likely to be associated with behavioral difficulties. In large samples of young persons in out-of-home care in Ontario, Canada, who had experienced mainly neglect, we investigated risk and protective factors as predictors of educational success. In a cross-sectional hierarchical regression analysis (N = 3659, aged 11–17 years), female gender, youth educational aspirations, caregiver educational aspirations for youth, time with current caregiver, internal developmental assets, and positive mental health were associated with better educational success. Neglect, grade retention, special educational needs, ethnic minority status, behavioral problems, and soft-drug use were associated with poorer educational outcomes. Gender significantly moderated caregiver educational aspirations and youth placement type. In a longitudinal analysis of a subsample (N = 962, aged 11–15 years at Time 1), covering three years, a large decline in educational success (d = −0.80) was observed. Female gender, internal developmental assets, and positive mental health positively predicted, and soft drug use negatively predicted, greater educational success at Time 2. These results point to factors that help or hinder educational success among young people in care and should inform new interventions or improved versions of existing ones that address educational success in the context of neglect.

Many young refugees face significant difficulties in securing support from social services providers. This study invited 21 young refugees aged 16 to 21 to take part in focus groups and follow-up interviews about their experiences of accessing this support. The findings reveal that young refugees may deliberately conform to expectations about their vulnerability in order to benefit from greater support from service providers. Social workers may fail to consider young refugees' abilities and understand the ways in which each individual is vulnerable. The study suggests that group work may be an effective way to engage young refugees to overcome this.