Price: £25.00
(includes 74p VAT for CD-ROM)
88 pages
A4 book plus CD Rom
BAAF, July 2004
ISBN 978-1-903699-38-6
Most children and young people in public care have experienced separation, loss and trauma and at all stages of education they do less well than their peers. They achieve fewer passes; they are nine times more likely to have a statement of special educational need; they are 13 times more likely to be permanently excluded from school and their underachievement progressively worsens as they get older. What can we do to address this persistent problem? And how can we help traumatised children to learn?
The greatest difficulty in the education of looked after children - as identified by teachers - is the behaviour of the children themselves. This resource pack will help address these behavioural issues by looking at the long-term effects of trauma in childhood and how this can affect learning. It explains how by giving attention to their special physiological, emotional and psychological needs, traumatised children can be helped to derive full benefit from their life at school. Written by a foster carer who is also a social worker, and a special educational needs teacher, and informed by many discussions with foster carers, social workers and teachers, the pack consists of a book and a CD ROM containing a PowerPoint presentation and a set of handouts. The presentation can be used by anyone involved in the care and education of looked after children.
The book is divided into three parts:
Part 1 sets the context and includes several composite case studies;
Part 11 provides notes to accompany the PowerPoint presentation covering three broad topics: the child, the adults, and what you can do; and
Part 111 suggests imaginative ways in which this material can be used in different training and learning settings.
This resource recommends ways in which looked after children - and any other traumatised children - can be best supported in their learning and what teachers in the classroom, foster carers at home, and social workers and other professionals working with children in different settings can do to help them.
