Fostered children ‘get better grades’

Monday, November 30, 2015

Category: Media

BBC News online, 30/11/2015, Robert Pigott

Children in foster care make better educational progress than vulnerable children who remain with troubled families, research suggests.

Oxford and Bristol university researchers calculated that the difference amounted to at least six GCSE grades at 16. However, the results of students in both groups were not as good as pupils in the general population. The GCSE results of 640,000 teenagers in England in 2013 were examined. Around 14,000 of these were deemed to be ‘in need’ but were still living with their birth parents, supported by social workers, and their results were not as good as the total of just over 6,000 pupils who were in care. Researcher Professor Judy Sebba, director of Oxford University’s Rees Centre for Research in Fostering and Education, is quoted.

See also:
Foster care raises children’s GCSE results by six grades
The Times, 30/11/2015, p.20, Rosemary Bennett

Foster children outperform peers in care in GCSEs, study shows
Times Education Supplement , 30/11/2015, Richard Vaughan