"A particular strength in SWIIS's work is its multi-disciplinary approach, supported by effective communication. It is clear that SWIIS has engaged experienced staff within its education team whose expertise and support are greatly appreciated by carers. Education workers use a variety of strategies effectively to support carers and so help children and young people to attend school and to achieve." - Strathclyde University Research
Education is a priority at SWIIS Foster Care (Scotland) - we know that children and young people engaged in education and learning do so much better. We have dedicated Education Workers in each office who are available to support foster carers, children and young people in a variety of different ways. This includes:
- Helping to assess train and support foster carers so that our carers understand and value the importance of education and learning in their own lives and the lives of the children they look after.
- Helping foster carers to provide an educationally rich environment at home.
- Supporting foster carers to research and locate good out of school activities for the children and young people in their care.
- Help carers learn about how the education system works and support them to advocate for their foster children to have the best service from their local schools
- Undertake direct pieces of work with children and young people to make sure they can take the best from education and out of school learning
- Taking the lead in designing and running the Summer Programme where foster carers, foster children and Children Who Foster (CWF) can spend time during the summer together (having fun, playing sports, visiting local attractions etc.)
- The Education Support Service collects detailed information about the educational attainments and achievements of our children and young people. This helps us to understand how well we are doing.
Our integrated model of support was recently evaluated independently by the University of Strathclyde who concluded that:
"The young people had better than average attendance for their stage and status in comparison with government data for looked after children in Scotland and with foster children in research reported by ............the Scottish Government in 2008."
You can view or download the whole document or a summary by clicking on the icons below.
Scotland's Future Teachers
SWIIS TALKS TO SCOTLAND’S FUTURE TEACHERS
In March 2011, a collective of SWIIS representatives went along to the University of Strathclyde, Jordanhill Campus to deliver a half day workshop to Post Graduate teaching students undertaking the ‘LAC in Education’ module with Dr Graham Connelly. The representatives were “C” (young person), Carol (Foster Carer), Valsamina (Therapist), Jane (Senior Manager Education, Health & Wellbeing) and Kate (Director).
The session included a presentation on fostering in Scotland, input on the SWIIS Education Support Service model, how it links to GIRFEC and the promotion of Achievement for Looked After children and young people. Sections of the workshop were dedicated to an experiential exercise using Megan’s Story from the TFN Skills to Foster programme and an inspiring presentation by Valsamina on Attachment and Learning that helped the students to reflect on their approaches with young people in the classroom.
The participants were captivated by Carol and “C” candid accounts of their own experiences of being a foster carer working with SWIIS support teams, schools and college and of being a Looked After young person who has overcome barriers to succeed in education and become aspirational for C’s own future.
It was very poignant at the end of the day when students went to talk to Carol and “C” with one of them asking “C”, “If I was your teacher what should I do to help you?” The reply was, “Just listen to me...”
To hear more from Carol click on the attachment...
Attachments
Strathclyde Research
Please note this does not contain the appendices to the report - should you wish access to these please contact Ailsa Bremner, Head Of Education and Training at our HQ.
Attachments
Summary of Strathclyde Research
Attachments
