Children in youth justice system missing out on education

A new report published today by HM Inspectorate of Probation, Ofsted (and its Welsh equivalent, Estyn) found that some children in the youth justice system have not participated in education, training or employment for two years or more

Based on close analysis of 181 cases as well as consultation with 29 children in the youth justice system, inspectors found that two-thirds (65 per cent) of children (aged 10-17 years) had been excluded from school and almost half (47 per cent) had been permanently excluded. This resulted in some children not participating in any education, training or employment (ETE) services for two years or more. To make matters worse, where children were involved, the quality of ETE provision was poorer for those who had been excluded from school or released under investigation by the police. Disappointingly, the quality of service provided varied according to the ethnic background of the children supervised by Youth Offending Teams.

In what the inspection report calls its most ‘disturbing’ finding, the worst access to ETE was for children requiring additional support via education and healthcare plans. In more than 40 per cent of cases with these additional plans, the needs of the child were not fully considered. The report does acknowledge that the pandemic has increased the challenges in children accessing ETE. While the inspectors found no differences between the quality of work being delivered to black African/Caribbean/black British children and white children, those children identified as of mixed ethnic heritage received a sub-standard service. In assessment work, there was a poorer focus on how to support their desistance from further offending through the offer of ETE, and this was also the case with planning with the inevitable consequence that ETE provision was less likely to meet children’s needs. More than a third (35%) of children with disabilities (most frequently learning or other cognitive challenges) also did not receive the support they needed to stay in education.

There were, however, some positive findings as well. Inspectors found that YOT boards consistently prioritised ETE work in the delivery of services and that frontline  staff in every single area inspected had enough time to deliver high quality work with children. They also found that staff had good access to training in recognising children’s ETE needs (including when they had neurodivergent conditions) and that those YOTs delivering good ETE work had well-developed partnership arrangements, including specialist assessment and interventions.

Recommendations

The report makes a series of recommendations aimed at a range of different stakeholders. These included:

• The Department for Education and the Ministry of Justice Youth Justice Policy Unit should work together to work out how the unidentified and unmet needs of children in the Youth Justice System can be prevented by earlier specialist assessment, intervention and support.
• The Youth Justice Board should modify their performance management measure for ETE to a more workable one that includes the levels of educational attainment achieved by children working with Youth Offending Services at the end of the period of supervision.
• YOT Management Boards should ensure that all children have a comprehensive ETE assessment and be responsible for performance monitoring (alongside local authorities).

The inspectorate also want the boards to develop ambitious more aims for ETE work in the YOT, including the achievement of Level 2 English and Maths by every child and establish a greater range of occupational training opportunities for those children beyond compulsory school age.

A neglected issue

The Probation Chief Inspector Justin Russell concluded that there are real challenges in making sure that children having problems with the youth justice system get the education they need and that even though most professionals know this is the case, the issue has never been given the attention it deserves. In launching the report, Mr Russell said:

“Children on youth justice caseloads have lives that are filled with disruption, trauma, adverse experiences, poor mental health and specialised needs. The services we spoke to were aware of this, and are striving to put ETE opportunities in place, but it remains the case that there are major barriers to children getting the education or training they so desperately need, if they are to stay away from crime.”