Suchergebnisse

Care services for children depend on a limited supply of resources; it is vital that these are used to best effect. This book considers the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of these services and their contribution to children's well-being. The book presents the findings of a set of original research studies. It looks at services provided by the statutory, for-profit and voluntary sectors, examining the way they are delivered and how resources are distributed. It examines the cost of providing particular services, the extent to which they improve outcomes for children and the degree to which t

Abstract
In high-income countries, children 'in care' have, on average, much lower educational attainment than their peers. We explore the hypothesis that this gap can be lessened by reducing the use of non-mainstream schools (NMS). We analysed a national longitudinal data-set comprising state-educated children eligible for national examinations in 2013 at the age of sixteen years (n = 642,805), including a sub-sample of 4,847 children looked after continuously in state care for at least a year on 31 March 2013 (CLA12). Nearly four out of ten CLA12 were in NMS at the age of sixteen years: this proportion varied widely between authorities. The academic attainment of those in NMS was very low and lower on average in authorities making high use of NMS. These differences were not explained by differences in child characteristics. We argue that care removes children from stress at home and offers them an opportunity to realise their academic potential. However, concentrating children with very low attainments, behavioural problems or highly specialised needs in long-term settings makes it difficult to realise this potential. Real needs for individualised teaching in a supportive setting should be flexibly met in mainstream schools, special units within these schools or, at the most, short-term placements in NMS.

English
Official reports into methods of improving the performance of children's homes have focused on staff training, staff ratios and size. This article tests these conclusions on 48 children's homes. It develops a measure of performance based on the social climate of a home and relates this to size, to the proportion of qualified staff, to whether the head of home was qualified and to staff ratios. The analysis supports the importance of size but finds no relationship between staff ratios and qualifications on the one hand and performance on the other.