Good practice in local authorities

Early years services

As discussed earlier in this section, refugee parents can have considerable problems accessing early education places for their children. The experience of local authorities in London has also shown that it is important for someone in the early years section to take specific responsibility for refugee families and work in consultation with refugee communities.

School admissions

The legal issues on school admissions are covered earlier in this section in Refugee children in schools. In terms of good practice, local authorities can take extra steps to help refugee families access schools:

• Make sure that all staff involved with school admission, whether in schools or local authority admission services, understand refugee children’s entitlement to education
• Make use of interpreters to support good communication between schools and families. Many local authorities have interpreting services.
• Provide guidance to staff on how to work effectively with interpreters. The Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) can give advice on this. For information on ITI visit their website.

Guidance is also available on the QCA Pathways to Learning for new arrivals website.

Improving access to early years services Implementing the following within local authorities will improve access to and take up of valuable early years services by refugee children and their families: Improve access to early education settings. Having information material available in relevant languages is essential to inform refugees about the services available. Local authorities, individual nurseries and playgroups can also visit and make links with refugee community organisations. Trained and dedicated workers carrying out outreach work can also play a major role in improving access to services Monitor how refugees take up the available services. This can help a setting identify whether all groups in the community are enjoying access Incorporate greater flexibility and less bureaucracy to meet parents’ and carers’ needs. For example, make forms easier and help parents and carers complete them. Be flexible about what information you need from them Ensure early years providers and practitioners are aware of race equality duties, and have professional development opportunities to learn about the background and experiences of refugees Train people from the refugee community and help them to develop their own early years and childcare services Expand the crèche facilities offered in further education colleges. These services are very useful to refugee parents learning English Make sure that the staffing in early years settings represents the linguistic and cultural diversity of the local community Involve children’s families in the work of nurseries and playgroups. Encourage them to contribute food ideas, stories and information about festivals Check that books, toys, resources and materials reflect cultural and ethnic diversity and do not encourage negative stereotypes

Education welfare officers

Most local authorities employ education welfare officers (also called ‘education social workers’) to monitor school attendance and to help parents meet their responsibilities. Most work with children who are already enrolled at school. In some areas, the education welfare officer may also work with homeless families and families in temporary housing. This involves helping refugee children get into school and helping families get free school meals and grants for school uniforms

Ethnic minority achievement grant services

The Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG) is a key source of additional funding available to schools and local authorities for the support of minority ethnic pupils, including refugees and asylum seekers.

Most of the EMAG money now goes directly to schools, with the amount reflecting the proportion of such pupils in the school. Schools use the grant to provide teaching or support in English as an additional language, and to increase resources or support staff such as mentors, as well as to fund a range of initiatives aimed at raising the achievement of this group of pupils. Some EMAG money also enables local authorities to maintain central teams, usually called the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service or Team.

Most local authorities have specialist teachers for English as an additional language (EAL). This is very important for refugee children. Some EMAG teams also have refugee support teachers who sometimes also help children get into school and support them in general. Some dispersal areas may have less experience of supporting refugee children or teaching EAL. But local authorities have to make sure refugee children get enough help with learning English to make sure that all pupils can access the curriculum in a fair and equal way.

Schools also need to make sure that new pupils in primary schools can access the curriculum. Employing trained bilingual teaching assistants who can speak refugee children’s first language, can help them get used to the school system more quickly.

Children’s Services Grant

The Children’s Services Grant aims to help local authorities to improve services to children, young people and families. This includes improving access to high quality education for vulnerable children who cannot attend school or whose circumstances make it difficult for them to do so. This includes asylum-seeking children and young people. The grant also focuses on services to provide these children with extra educational support so they can achieve their full potential.

See the local authority social services letter LASSL (2005)4, Local Authority Children’s Services Funding: 2006-07 & 2007-08 and the local authority circular Children’s Services Grant 2006-07: LAC (SC06_1) on the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) website.

The Children and Young Persons Bill 2007 seeks to ensure children in care, including those who enter custody, are visited regularly by the responsible local authority. It will also provide more support for care leavers, including an entitlement to a £2,000 bursary for those who go on to higher education and extend the entitlement to a Personal Adviser to support young people who wish to continue (or resume) an education and training pathway up until the age of 25.

Traveller education services

Most local authorities provide specialist traveller education services to support traveller groups such as Gypsies or Roma, travellers of Irish heritage, and other mobile populations with children. Traveller education services work with schools, local authorities and families. Funding for these specialist education services comes mainly from the Children’s Services Grant, which is part of the DCSF Standards Fund grant.

In some local authorities, traveller education services work in partnership with EMAG teams (and refugee support teachers) to support Eastern and Central European Roma families (mainly from Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic (also called Slovakia), Kosovo and Romania). Many of these families arrived as asylum seekers. However, on 01 May 2004, the Czech Republic, Poland, and the Slovak Republic joined the European Union (EU). These families are able to legally reside and work in the UK. See the EU website for a full list of countries that got membership in 2004.

Despite their change in legal status, Roma children’s needs may still be very similar to those of refugees and asylum seekers. Local authorities, EMAG services and traveller education services will need to work together to support their needs.

School health services

Health practitioners in schools should always check if the child’s family is registered with a GP and find out if the children have any particular health issues. It is important for health practitioners to be aware that refugee children may not have had all (or any) of the vaccinations that are routine in the UK. They may also have come from a country where health services have broken down due to conflict, or may have health conditions common in their ethnic group or injuries related to persecution or armed conflict.

Educational psychology services

Educational psychologists promote child development and learning through the application of psychology by working with individuals and groups of children, teachers and other adults in schools, families, other local authority officers, health and social services and other agencies. Some refugee children may need more intensive support because of their experiences of war, persecution and conflict, as well as difficulties they may have in coping with loss, dislocation and exile. Educational psychologists may be an important resource in assessing children’s needs and developing interventions that can help.

Some schools have drop-in sessions where teachers and parents can discuss any concerns about a particular child. Some may refer children to the local child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), run by local NHS primary care trusts. CAMHS services tend to be stretched. Some places have waiting times of 12 to 18 months.

‘Looked-after’ children

Children who are in the care of local authorities are described as ‘looked-after children’. They include unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young people cared for or housed by local authorities. It is government policy that looked-after children deserve the same life chances as any other child - to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution to society and achieve economic well-being. That is why local authorities have a duty under Section 52 of the Children Act 2004 to promote the educational achievement of the children in their care.

GOOD PRACTICE: Unaccompanied children in school The following is recommended good practice to help improve the chances of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in school: Work closely with other agencies and services to ensure responses to children’s needs are co-ordinated Ensure that unaccompanied children in public care have a Personal Education Plan (PEP). The PEP should be developed in partnership with other services and agencies, and should involve the child or young person. This plan should be regularly reviewed A teacher in each school should be designated to promote the interests of children in care. The role can be adapted to meet local needs. It could include advocating for children in care, monitoring their progress and performance, or providing guidance to other staff on the needs and experiences of children in care. Children in care who change school should be found an education place within 20 school days Provide extra language help to children and encourage them to attend out-of-school hours or extended day opportunities so they can participate fully in school and make friend Education support teams for children in care should advise schools and liaise between teachers and social workers

All local authorities are obliged to have an education officer for looked-after children. Schools should also assign a senior member of staff as designated teacher to act as a champion for looked-after children.

The Government expects local authorities to set a time limit of 20 school days within which they must secure a school place for any pupil in public care. This will be a full-time place in a local mainstream school unless the child’s circumstances mean full-time, local or mainstream school provision is not suitable.

In the past, looked after children have not been expected to do too well at school. This view is changing partly because many refugee children who are looked after have been very successful in obtaining qualifications and staying in education longer. Practitioners working with looked-after children need to know what strengths and difficulties they have and help them access the right forms of education.

There are key policy initiatives in place to help children in care at school. The Education Protects Programme run by the DCSF aims to encourage communication between schools and social services departments.

See Guidance on the education of children and young people in public care (2000) and The statutory guidance on the duty on local authorities to promote the educational achievement of looked after children under section 52 of the children Act 2004 from the Every Child Matters website (click on ‘social care’, ‘looked after children’, ‘educational achievement’).

Youth and community services

Youth and community services at local authorities tend to only reach refugees with the help of refugee community groups. Refugees could have better access to youth and community services if the following was provided:

• More out-of-school hours services for refugee children, like homework clubs
• Holiday projects that have EAL input
• ‘Refugee friendly’ youth clubs
• Cultural and religious sensitivity built into youth activities (such as separate sports clubs for boys and girls, closing and opening times that enable all young people to attend, irrespective of age, sex, and culture, religious observances and organised activities)
• Awareness of the economic constraints on most young refugees and their carers when organising activities
• Specialist refugee youth workers in areas with a large refugee population

A useful publication is Out of exile: Developing youth work with young refugees, by Brian Cohen and Ros Norton, Youth Work Press, 2000.

Community schools

Many refugee communities run their own schools teaching their community language, the history, geography and culture of their home country, as well as religious education. Some also supplement mainstream curriculum subjects and run youth clubs and advice services. Community schools are enormously beneficial to refugee children as they can help them communicate with the elder members of their family. They can also help children get a better sense of their identity. This will also make it easier for children to reintegrate into their communities if they return to their home country. Most community schools, however, do not have enough funding.

CASE STUDY: Bridging Project Based at Oxford and Cherwell College of Further Education, the Bridging Project helps mainly 16 to 19 year old newly arrived young people (including asylum seekers) access education, training and health services. Project workers assess language skills and other educational needs and then refer students on to education providers in Oxfordshire. Pastoral workers are at campuses to help students overcome educational, personal, social, cultural or practical issues that might prevent them from studying. The Project was initially funded by Connexions, then by two separate periods of LSC funding. It now survives on interim support from Oxfordshire County Council Health and Social Care. The Project has very much helped to increase educational provision for the refugee community. See the Oxford and Cherwell College website.

CASE STUDY: Welcome to Your Library Project The Welcome to Your Library Project was developed by the London Libraries Development Agency and funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. The Project has identified refugee communities in each borough. It works with refugee communities in each borough to provide access to and information about services such as education and employment. It has developed innovative ways of meeting the needs of refugee communities. It is also redefining how libraries can work. See the London Libraries Development Agency (click on ‘Projects and Partnerships’) and Welcome to Your Library (WTYL).

Recommendations for local authorities

There should be greater local authority funding for community groups to develop their own projects. Local authorities should help schools with grants or by supplying premises or other support. Greenwich in south east London, for example, has provided teacher training. Funding to develop teaching resources is also very much needed. There should be greater liaison between refugee community and mainstream schools.

The Resource Unit for Supplementary and Mother Tongue Schools has a list of schools.
Phone 020 7700 8189 or email resource@resourceunit.com

Libraries and leisure services

Many refugees may not have utilised libraries in their home country or not know how they work. Some may not be literate in their home language. Libraries could meet their needs in these ways:

• Hold books in refugee languages, including some bi-lingual English/home language books for adults and children.
• Have an ESOL/EAL section with general textbooks, specialist grammar books, tapes and English language readers, as well as bilingual and English dictionaries
• Monitor how refugee children, who are unlikely to have a computer at home, use computers
• Use library space for exhibitions about local communities and to promote positive images of refugees

Education Maintenance Allowance

Staff in education grants and awards departments are often concerned with young refugees over the age of 16. When a child turns 16, their immigration status will affect their entitlements to education and training opportunities.

The Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is a weekly grant of up to £30 for students aged 16 to 19 who are undertaking at least 12 hours guided learning a week. The allowance aims to help students out with things like books, travel and equipment. Students must attend and complete course work regularly.

To apply for EMA, the student needs a bank account, to fill in an application form, and to provide the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) with proof that the student’s household income is not over £30,000. Young asylum seekers or students with conditional immigration status cannot apply for EMA. For the purposes of EMA, there is no distinction between young people who are accompanied or unaccompanied asylum seekers. Nationals of the EU/EEA are eligible for EMAs.

For more information on EMAs and to apply, go to the EMA website . Further information is also available on the LSC website.

General recommendations for local authorities

In order to support the well-being and progress of refugee children, local authorities could do the following:

• Keep regular statistics on refugee communities and monitor the deployment of resources so that all sections of the community access services and support
• Compile a register of refugee community schools in the area; make this available to mainstream schools and promote links between them and refugee community schools
• Make information materials about local services available in key refugee languages
• Train teachers and other staff about the importance of collecting information on racial harassment in the school and how to recognise when an incident is racially motivated