Conference Agenda

Context/Topic/Objective

Internationally, children in care experience pervasive educational inequalities reflective of widespread systemic barriers (Cassarino-Perez et al., 2018; Gahagan et al., 2023; Garcia-Molsosa et al., 2021; Goding et al., 2022). This persists despite increased focus on care-experienced children within education research, as well as the systemic conditions within State care, education that inform and impact these inequalities (Goding et al., 2022; Montserrat & Casas, 2018). For children in residential care, a group placement setting with 24-hour staff, educational inequalities persist and is heightened due to stigma, increased levels of trauma, and even more complex systemic failures that than within foster or kinship care (Garcia-Molsosa et al., 2021).

Within the Irish context, there is a noted paucity in research concerning children in care, especially the education context (Darmondy et al., 2013) and there is no education policy targeting children in care. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Irish Department of Children’s Participation in Decision Making Framework (2015) codifies into law and practice the participation of children in decision-making concerning their care. Children in care have also expressed desire and willingness to have a say in decision-making processes (Leeson, 2007; van Bijleveld et al., 2014) and have proven capable of doing so within complex situations and structures (Shuttleworth, 2023). However, young people’s ability to participate in decision making while in residential care is rarely achieved, owing to a mix of factors including perceived higher risk from social care workers (Equit & Purtell, 2023). This research is the first project concerning the educational experiences of children in residential care in Ireland under the modern child welfare service established in 2014. To address this critical gap, this research set out to create a holistic inquiry into the current state of education for children in residential care from three perspectives: young people; professionals in care and education; and policy makers and civil servants.

Theoretical/Conceptual:

This research employes Gharabaghi’s (2023) critique of participation as aesthetic, claiming that rights-based conceptualization does not question adult hegemonic power structures that keep children away from decision-making process while claiming to enable participation. This critique is understood through the prism of agential epistemic injustice (Medina, 2022), where a marginalized community’s epistemic resources are defectively used and defanged by the powerful group to further their status as knowers. As Paciscopi (2024) argues, the silencing of testimonies of marginalized groups can be understood as particularly egregious when the silenced group holds epistemic resources to articulate a specific phenomenon. If we understand the care experience as one such specific phenomenon, the epistemic injustice experienced by children within the care system is concerning. This is because such children themselves have a specific situated knowledge to articulate the care experience. Care-experienced advocates and academics have consistently highlighted the unique nature of this situated knowledge, and the lack of inclusion of such knowledge within the academic, policy, practice, and public realm. The cornerstone of this research is acknowledgement and focus on the situated knowledge of children in care and developing new epistemic resources with children in care, who are often subjected to both testimonial and hermeneutical injustice.

Research Questions:

1. What barriers or supports are currently in place to support children in residential Care during their post-primary education within both the Care and education systems?

1. How are these barriers or support conceptualized by children in Care, professionals and policy makers?

1. What differences and similarities are found across these three stakeholders, and what are their impacts?

Children and adolescents living in residential care constitute one of the most vulnerable groups worldwide, and recent research continues to highlight persistent educational disadvantages for this population (Hayes, 2025). Systematic evidence shows that young people in residential care frequently experience barriers to positive educational outcomes, including disrupted schooling, limited educational support, and emotional and behavioural challenges that negatively affect learning (McCormick et al., 2025). Studies using linked population data also find that children with out-of-home care histories, including those in residential settings, are significantly more likely to have lower academic achievement scores compared with the general population, even when controlling for background risk factors such as maltreatment and socioeconomic adversity (Jackson et al., 2023).
Globally, millions of children and adolescents live in residential care as a result of serious violations of their rights, including neglect, abuse, or family dysfunction, and these early adversities are closely associated with subsequent challenges in education, mental health, and social inclusion (Petrowski et al., 2022). For example, children in care are less likely to complete key stages of schooling and progress into post-compulsory education and beyond, indicating persistent attainment gaps relative to peers not involved with child welfare services (Smith & Brown, 2024).
In the educational domain, young people in residential care often face not only academic barriers but also low expectations from adults and a lack of enriched learning opportunities, factors linked to reduced school engagement and limited access to higher education pathways (McCormick et al., 2025). In this context, high-quality out-of-school learning opportunities such as extracurricular STEM and science engagement programs have been identified as protective factors that can enhance academic motivation, support positive educational trajectories, and strengthen future aspirations among students from vulnerable contexts (DeWitt et al., 2023; Lauer et al., 2022). Building on this evidence, this study addresses the following research question: How does participation in high-quality out-of-school scientific learning activities influence motivation, engagement with learning, and educational aspirations among children and adolescents living in residential care?
This paper presents a case study analysing the impact of extending learning time through high-quality out-of-school scientific activities in three residential care centers in Spain. The study is the result of a project funded by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology, which aimed to expand and diversify actions designed to promote scientific, technological, and innovative culture among children and adolescents in residential care. The project implemented two evidence-based educational interventions: Dialogic Literacy Gatherings, which engage participants in reading, interpreting, and discussing age-adapted scientific contributions to foster collective meaning-making and knowledge construction; and scientific training sessions, which are hands-on, academically rigorous workshops delivered by professional scientists following the content of the Dialogic Literacy Gatherings. The project seeks to promote scientific vocations among groups historically distant from science by providing effective educational programs, bringing cutting-edge scientific and technological advances closer to participants, and adapting content to age and context. It also aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly enhancing the quality of education (Goal 4) and reducing inequalities (Goal 10).
The findings indicate that participation in these out-of-school scientific activities contributed to increased motivation, enhanced engagement with learning, and higher academic aspirations. Participants reported a shift in their perceptions of science and their own educational possibilities, suggesting that extending learning time through high-quality scientific activities can play a significant role in promoting more transformative educational trajectories for children and adolescents in care.

This study explores the experiences of young adult carers studying at university in the UK. Student carers have unpaid caring responsibilities for a friend or family member who has an illness, disability, mental health problem, addiction or combination of these. A focus on student carers recognises the specific needs of this group of students who must manage the demands of the studies alongside the unpaid caring responsibilities for a friend or family member who has an illness, disability, mental health problem, addiction or combination of these.

Student carers occupy a complex and often invisible position in university systems. As the literature indicates, they face barriers such as reduced engagement, missed deadlines, and divided responsibilities (UCAS 2024), all of which can significantly affect both access to and progression through higher education. Policies focusing on student carers in many institutions also lack visibility, consistency, and integration of support mechanisms. For example, a recent review of university policies focused on how student carers are positioned within national higher education policy – and what forms of support are made visible and accessible to them at the institutional level across the UK – found that the extent and quality of institutional responses described by the policy documents analysed remain inconsistent (Corcoran et al. 2025). Consequently, it is possible to understand student carers’ experiences as shaped by relational dynamics, institutional structures, and moral responsibilities that are rarely acknowledged in dominant academic discourses. Drawing on relational cultural theory, Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction and an ethic of care, we aim to develop a multidimensional lens through which to understand the challenges and strengths of being a student carer in higher education.