Pupil Premium Plus for Children in Care: A Critical Social Justice Analysis

Children in care (CiC), or looked after children, in England achieve less well than their non-looked after peers and as such they receive pupil premium plus funding.

This book explores how the pupil premium plus is used to support the educational outcomes of CiC, with specific focus on professionals’ planning processes, the supports and interventions funded using pupil premium plus, and how the impact of the funding is tracked and monitored. It draws on empirical data from semi-structured interviews with designated CiC teachers, social workers, and school heads, and document analysis of 20 school pupil premium strategies. Ben Taylor uses educational theory to analyse the data, drawing on humanist theories, social pedagogy and critical pedagogy to identify key themes in the data including race and class. He argues that pupil premium plus is valued by professionals, who care deeply about CiC. He shows how it is seen as an important and supportive tool which goes beyond the academic to include social and emotional interventions and curriculum enrichment.

Benjamin Taylor is Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Studies and Primary Education at the University of East London, UK.