Perspectives from care to classroom: Non-kinship foster carers’ views on education and teenagers-in-care’s lived experiences of academic resilience

Abstract

Teenagers-in-Care continue to experience significant barriers to educational success, despite ongoing policy attention and reform. This thesis explores how their lived experience of academic resilience is understood, supported, and sustained, and how these insights, together with those of their Designated Teachers, can strengthen educational practice and policy. This understanding is extended through aggregated perspectives from international studies of non-kinship foster carers, whose often overlooked experiences offer insight into how carers support the education of Children-in-care.
The first study, a meta-aggregative systematic review using Joanna Briggs Institute methodology, synthesised 12 qualitative studies on non-kinship foster carers’ perspectives. Four synthesised findings with moderate ConQual confidence were produced: (1) supporting foster children’s needs requires adaptable academic, emotional, and relational approaches, (2) foster carers view themselves as pivotal in driving educational progress through advocacy and commitment, (3) systemic challenges persist, creating barriers to consistent support, and (4) collaboration with educational staff is valued, whilst inconsistent communication undermines progress. The second study, using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, explored academic resilience among four Teenagers-in-Care and two Designated Teachers. Resilience was understood as context-sensitive and relational, with self-reflection helping teenagers to recognise their progress and its meaning. Emotionally attuned staff and loving foster carers strengthened this process, whilst friendships during challenging times offered belonging and agency.
The studies highlight the importance of nuanced understanding among educators, carers, and Designated Teachers to enable collaborative and responsive support for children in foster care. In a climate of shifting priorities and limited progress, this thesis advocates for experience-led, relational routes towards meaningful educational change.

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ORCID for Lawrence Taylor: orcid.org/0000-0002-5751-3291

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