A blog by ICET Trustee Amy Mook

At the beginning of March, I had the privilege of speaking about the Inner Circle Education Trust (ICET) and our Head Start into Higher Education programme at the annual National Network for the Education of Care Leavers (NNECL) conference. 

I spoke about the exciting project for an hour with interested audience members that had signed up to the session. The audience ranged from other care leavers, Higher Education Widening-Participation officers, Local Authority Leaving Care teams and Virtual Schools to name a few. 

I began the presentation by sharing my education journey as a care leaver. About how there was a lack of consistency in the expectations of my potential, along with misinformation about the support that was available to me. I spoke about my passion for learning and the sense of stability that education provided during a turbulent childhood. I spoke about how I am now studying for a psychology PhD and how this would not be possible without the support, and encouragement from my foster carers although they had never been to university or fully understood that world. This set the tone for introducing ICET and the Head Start into Higher Education programme. I was so excited to speak about the programme because it provides a sense of knowledgeable stability and encouragement in the form of an Educational Navigator, an individual providing one-to-one support for young people on the programme.

It is something that I feel certain would have benefitted me especially during the tricky transition that young people in care often experience from secondary school to Further Education, alongside the transition to independence and the care leaver status (or "former relevant” if you prefer legal jargon). I spoke about how the programme was up and running, supporting the first cohort of 15 young people living in Camden Local Authority to achieve their potential academically! I spoke about the exciting plans to support another cohort of young people, whilst learning how effective the programme is in supporting young people to realise and achieve their aspirations. Understanding the effectiveness of the programme is the job of an experienced, professional evaluation team of which Patricia Ambrose, former director of NNECL is a member of. Patricia spoke in detail about the evaluation of the programme that is currently underway in collaboration with the University of Birmingham. Patricia introduced the evaluation, explaining how it aims to utilise a multi-method approach over the life course of the programme. Patricia spoke about some of the potential challenges to the evaluation, such as a small sample size, and lack of matched control group but also some of the strategies that the evaluation team aims to implement to mitigate these such as utilising a sample of care leavers that are already studying Higher Education courses, to understand some of their barriers and facilitators to educational attainment.

The talk was well received with audience members sharing their practice in encouraging access and attainment at university for care leavers. I was particularly struck by the audience members agreement that more support for academic achievement amongst care experienced young people should be an expectation not an exception. The audience generally recognised that supporting the aspirations of young people in care over a long period in a young person’s life, was often subject to the availability and willingness of staff that were involved in a young person’s life rather than an integral part of the way that services operate with members of staff officially responsible for that long term educational support.

Audience members asked interesting questions about how success is measured, as well as how the programme will adapt to the ever-changing needs and statuses of young people with care experience that are part of the programme. 

It was powerful to be able to share the programme at the conference, with HE institutions and Local Authorities even approaching to ask if there is scope for ICET to support them in encouraging more young people into higher education. I really enjoyed the opportunity to share the incredible work that is being done, and I am excited to share evaluation findings and developments in the future!