Education outcomes for looked after children: 2014-2015

Outcomes for young people looked after for part of the year

Up to this point this publication has focused on the 427 school leavers who were looked after for the entire year (although they may have been accommodated in more than one place). Focusing on this group allows us to look at the impact of being looked after on young people's education outcomes.

This section looks at the outcomes for the 412 school leavers who were looked after for part of the year - those who stopped or started being looked after between 1 August 2014 and 31 July 2015.

While data on young people looked after for part of the year do not directly tell us about the impact of being looked after on education outcomes they do give insight into the impact of the upheaval of moving in to or out of care.

Educational attainment of young people looked after for part of the year

The qualification levels of young people who were looked after for the full year is higher than for young people looked after for part of the year. More than a third of (35 per cent) full year looked after leavers had one or more qualification at level 5 or better compared to less than a quarter (24 per cent) of part year looked after leavers. The qualification levels of young people who were looked after for part of the year is most similar to that of young people who were looked after for the whole year and experienced two or three placements in that time. While it is unclear how upheaval in previous years impacts on outcomes these data suggest that upheaval in the year that young people take exams has a relationship to their outcomes.

Table 5.1: Percentage of all school leavers looked after for part of the year achieving different levels of attainment, 2014/15

Post-school destinations of young people looked after for part of the year

Young people looked after for part of the year are less likely than those looked after for the full year to enter a positive destination nine months after leaving school. Where three-quarters of young (69 per cent) people looked after for the full year went on to a positive destination after leaving school, six in ten (61 per cent) of those looked after for part of the year did.

Table 5.2: Percentage of school leavers who were looked after for part of the year and for all of the year by follow up destination (nine months after leaving school), 2014/15

School attendance of young people looked after for part of the year

Young people looked after for part of the year have clearly poorer school attendance than those looked after for the full year. The attendance rate among children looked after for part of the year has improved by three percentage points since 2009/10 to 84 per cent, but still lags approximately 10 per cent behind the rate for all school children, whereas the rate for children looked after for the full year is only two per cent behind.

Table 5.3: Percentage attendance of young people looked after for part of the year by stage, 2009/10-2014/15 ⁽¹⁾

(1) From 2010/11, data only collected biennially.

Exclusions of young people looked after for part of the year

Young people looked after for part of the year have rates of exclusions that are much higher than children looked after for the full year, and the rate of improvement seen in the overall and full year figures appears to have stalled in the part year group.

Table 5.4: Cases of Exclusion rate per 1,000 pupils by children looked after for part of the year and stage, 2009/10-2014/15 ⁽¹⁾

(1) From 2010/11, data only collected biennially.