Training materials: Education – A Carers’ Handbook

 Education – A Carers’ Handbook
 B Dixon, National Teaching & Advisory Service.
 ISBN: 0954762746, £6.99 (plus £1.95 p&p)
 To order visit www.ntas.org.uk/books

There is a consensus that children in care are no more or less able than the general public, points out  the introduction to this short book, writes Geoff Corbishley.

It then presents a list of statistics, which reveal how dreadfully children in care perform educationally.


This is a concise and helpful guide as to how schools work and the different professionals who may come into contact with foster carers. It provides some useful tips, such as: how to liaise with a school, how to address matters when something is going wrong, and how to complain.

While all of this is helpful, much of the advice provided would apply equally to any parent, and there is no analysis as to why children in care are falling so far behind: the prejudices of institutions and society perhaps?

The book could have proved more useful if it had been able to consider how all the professionals involved with a child in care inter-relate (social services, education and health) and how these complexities can impact upon the child’s education and the foster carer’s sanity.

So, a useful book, reasonably priced but limited to being a straightforward guide to the workings of the school systems.

Geoff Corbishley is a professional foster carer