Stuart Hollis Building on Best Practice: Partnership Working for Care Leavers Carol Taylor Director of Operations NIACE

There are around 60,000 children in care at any one time, around 0.5% of all children. During the course of a year as many as 85,000 children will spend time in care. Around 8,000 young people will be leaving care at any one time. Only 13% of children in care gained 5 good GCSEs at the end of 2007, compared to 62% of all children. At 19, only 26% of care leavers are in further education and 6% are in higher education. This compares to 44% of all young people in one form of education at age 19. Stats

Adult learning – where and what? FE Colleges Local Authorities Apprenticeships Training providers Work 6 th form ‘NEET’ and other University The secure estate

The Children Act (2004) Children (Leaving Care) Act (2000) Care Matters: Time for Change (2007) Socially excluded adults Public Service Agreement (PSA 16) Children and Young People Bill (2008) New Opportunities White Paper - Fair Chances for the Future (2009) Policy Context

The Duty of a College Retain and support learners who have already demonstrated an interest and enthusiasm for education, whilst they face an accelerated transition into adulthood and manage a range of challenges such as personal, financial, housing and transport. Re-engage learners who have become disengaged and who also experience barriers to learning: financial worries, the need to support themselves, factors in childhood/or experiences of being in care.

Research Young Adults Leaving Care: The role of FE colleges 1.The strategic priority given to looked after young adults and care leavers. 2.The role of designated advocates. 3.Effective partnership working. 4.A flexible package of support which meets the needs of the learners. 5.The role of robust student support services. 6.Staff training. 7.Curriculum opportunities to support transition. 8.Ensuring progression opportunities. 9.The multi-agency approach.

Other areas of related work include: Family Learning for Care Leavers The Digital Divide Healthy FE Framework ‘Back on track’ Young Offenders

Conclusions and recommendations NIACE recommends: –all local authorities and FE colleges identify care leavers and looked after young people as a strategic priority; –the development of nationally recognised training programmes for staff at different levels, including ‘awareness raising’ for all staff; –further research into the role of personal advisers and their specific training needs to enable them to effectively support young care leavers up to the age of 25; –an audit to identify appropriate courses which could support the needs of young adults in, or leaving care;

–a scoping study to investigate the feasibility of extending the Quality Mark for Higher Education Institutions to the FE sector. A quality mark in this area would provide external validation for the self evaluation process; –greater attention to the principles and practicalities of partnership working and that examples of good practice are developed, showcased and disseminated; –further work to develop and disseminate tools and resources, such as briefing sheets, good practices guides, training packs etc, to support providers; –young adults in or leaving care are involved in all aspects of the recommendations we have suggested. Provision and support within the FE sector can be significantly improved if the voices of young adults in or leaving care are heard.