Educational interventions that improve the attainment and progress of children in out-of-home care

This chapter provides a review of the research evidence on the effectiveness of educational interventions aimed at improving the outcomes of children in out-of-home care (OOHC). The focus is limited to educational interventions during the school years focused specifically on children in OOHC that have educational outcomes. As the literature reviews in this area have suggested (Evans et al., 2017; Forsman and Vinnerljung, 2012; Liabo et al. 2013; Mannay et al., 2015; Riitano and Pearson, 2014), much of the available evidence is insufficiently theorised and not robust enough to be trusted as a basis for decision-making and resource allocation. However, some reviews and studies can help to identify more promising approaches. Previous analysis (Sebba et al., 2015) has shown that children in OOHC do better in those schools that are higher performing for children in general, though some research (e.g. Wiegmann et al., 2014 in California) suggest they are over represented in under-achieving schools. Reflecting this potential role of schools in outcomes, the chapter looks first at systemic interventions involving whole-school approaches before considering the individual interventions targeting children in OOHC specifically and then those interventions targeting their foster carers. Finally, the implications from the evidence reviewed for policy and practice are drawn out. ‘Case study’ illustrations are provided and some discussion questions are provided at the end of the chapter