European Journal of Social Work

Special Issue Call for Papers

The Education of Children and Young People in State Care

The education of children in out-of-home care is seriously neglected in nearly all European countries. One identified factor is the strong tendency of child welfare services to ignore this important aspect of children’s lives, focusing instead on personal and family relations and placement. This has contributed to the wide gap in attainment between children in care and others. The majority of children who enter child protection/child welfare systems still leave school and care with few qualifi cations, leaving them vulnerable to long term unemployment and the risk of social exclusion.

The special issue will explore a range of themes and approaches. For example, why do children do better educationally in foster care, even when residential care is of good quality? How do birth families continue to infl uence young people’s aspirations and learning identity? How do social class and ethnicity shape the expectations of care givers and professionals? Why does education come so low on social workers’ agenda and so high on that of parents? How important are such qualities as personal resilience and self-efficacy compared with the legislative and administrative framework and organisation of services? There are interesting comparisons to be made between different European countries which may throw light on these questions.

The journal wishes to highlight the issue as a topic for discussion and research, and start to fi ll an important gap in the literature. It is hoped to direct social work attention to the importance of school and education in children’s lives and the efforts that need to be made if they are to have equal chances with other children.

Papers clearly drawing out implications for social work practice will be especially welcome. A further objective is to enable young people’s own voices to be heard and to inform the debate. Papers submitted may be theoretical or empirical, including evaluated practice initiatives and covering the whole age range from early years through to higher education.

Guest Editors:

Sonia Jackson, Professor of Social Care and Education, Thomas Coram Research Unit,Institute of Education, University of London.

Ingrid Höjer, Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, University of Göteborg

www.tandf.co.uk/journals/ejsw

Submission Details

Abstracts (up to 500 words) for proposed papers should be submitted by email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it by 30th November 2010, for consideration by the guest editors. Authors of successful proposals will be asked to submit their full article for peer review by 31st March 2011.

Further details about the journal, and guidance for authors, may be found on the journal’s website: www.tandf.co.uk/journals/ejsw