Can you help us by participating in some research for our next big #EqualChance education report?
The report will focus on the experiences of adopted and previously looked-after young people accessing education and training post-16. We are focusing mainly on further education rather than higher education, although the experiences of those who have gone on to access higher education will not be discounted.
As part of the research for this report, I am hoping to carry out semi-structured interviews with adoptive parents and special guardians and their young people aged 16+. Each family would take part in one interview, carried out via Skype. Parents and young people can be interviewed together, or separately, according to their preference.
The interviews will be transcribed and material from them may be included in the final report. Names will be changed, and details identifying locality can also be changed if necessary. Interviewees will be able to review the material from the interview that goes into the final report. Adoption UK will not use the material for any other purpose without express permission, although the report will be released to the media, and material may be used by the media in reporting.
We are looking for families that meet the following criteria:
• An adoptive, SGO or CAO family with a young person aged 16-25 (the upper age limit can be extended where the experience is recent and relevant) who are all willing to be interviewed under the conditions outlined above
• The young person will have left school with few or no formal qualifications, or will have achieved considerably below their potential because of the impact of adverse experiences and lack of appropriate support
• The young person will have successfully accessed post-16 education and training provision that has helped them to achieve progress (even if this took some time to achieve), OR will have been unable to do so because of significant barriers – I am looking for around a 50:50 split here
In total, I am looking for approximately ten families who would be willing to participate in this interview stage. Questions will focus on experiences of school, advice that was given about options at post-16 and experiences of navigating education and training post-16.
The next stage will be a survey for previously looked-after and adopted young people aged 16+ which will be more widely-shared.
If you would like you and your family to be considered for the interview stage, I would be grateful if you could email me ([email protected]), with a 200-300 word summary of your family’s experiences of accessing post-16 provision for your young person.
Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee that every respondent will be accepted onto the interview stage as we need a mix of families with different experiences, and with a good geographical spread across the UK. However, if you are not chosen for interview, it is possible that anonymised material from your written summary may also be used in the final report, with your permission.
The report is likely to be published in December or January, but the interview stage will need to be completed by the end of September 2019, so I would be grateful if you could respond as soon as possible if you are interested in participating.
Thanks!
