ABSTRACT

School in an open society is seen as a place to obtain social justice and to achieve equality of opportunity. Indeed, for children and young people who are ‘looked after’, school may prove to be the only constant source of stability in a fragmented and troubled life. Unfortunately, it seems that, within the current political climate in education, such prevailing expectations regarding educational entitlement may not be taken as absolute for all children. A joint report by the Department of Health Social Services Inspectorate and OFSTED highlighted grave concern regarding the education of children and young people ‘looked after’; at least 25 per cent of children at Key Stage 4 were facing ‘acute difficulties’. These children were often not attending school and, ‘many have been excluded and have no regular educational placement’ (SSI and OFSTED, 1995, p. 43). A regional survey (Maginnis, 1993) calculated that a child living in a children’s home is eighty times more likely to be excluded from school than a child living with his or her family. Such figures give a bleak prognosis regarding equality of opportunity and indeed social justice for the 60,000 children and young people who are currently ‘looked after’ by local authorities. On an average day, many of these young people will be without education; either excluded, awaiting placements or refusing to attend-drifting in a vacuum of failure.