The Pupil Premium Plus: The Implementation and Effects of Educational Policy for Children and Young People in Local Authority Care

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Children and young people in local authority care are consistently marginalised and excluded, experiencing poorer outcomes than their peers in areas ranging from educational outcomes to mental health and from risky behaviours to employment. In 2014, 14% of children and young people in local authority care achieved 5A*-C GCSEs compared with 68% of their peers. In the subsequent academic year, the coalition government introduced the Pupil Premium Plus (PP+), a new strand of the Pupil Premium, aimed at raising the achievement of children and young people in local authority care. By providing £1900 per capita (now £2300), the government proposed this money be used to meet the educational needs of these children and young people, to be distributed by Virtual School Head Teachers (local authority employees, known within the government narrative as 'corporate parents') and then assigned to the schools. This research project proposes to explore the implementation and effects of the PP+ by 'mapping' the PP+ policy and exploring whether: the PP+ can address the vulnerability of this group; if 'corporate parents' are appropriately 'witnessing' for these children and young people; and the effects the policy might have on their subjective position of 'other'. To do this, the project will draw upon a number of poststructural and psychosocial theorists including: Deleuze and Guattari (assemblage theory), Judith Butler (vulnerability), Foucault (power and subjectivation), and Gerson (witnessing). The researcher will navigate the field using an emergent ethnographic approach in order to best follow and trace the processes of the PP+ from local authority level to the child or young person, using observations, focus groups, interviews, and document analysis.