Looked After Children: Education, School and Unauthorised Absence – Perspectives from Young People

This paper reports the findings of a research project which explored why there are higher rates of unauthorised absence from school among Looked after Children (LAC) in Northern Ireland. Four young people who were currently looked after and also had a history of unauthorised absence from school participated in semi-structured, one to one interviews. Focus was placed on their perceptions of education, experiences of school and was factors contributed to their engagement in unauthorised absence from school. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis conducted on the interview transcripts revealed that bullying, negative perceptions of teachers and lack of meaning to attend school were key issues identified. The role of teacher/pupil attachment and resilience measures are also discussed.