Robbie Gilligan is a Professor of Social Work and Social Policy at Trinity College Dublin. At the CELCIS Annual Lecture he discussed powering up the potential of care experienced young people: the role of education, work and adult expectations.

1. ‘Powering up the potential of care-experienced
young people: the role of education, work and adult
expectations’
Professor Robbie Gilligan,
School of Social Work and Social Policy
CELCIS Annual Lecture,
University of Strathclyde,
February 28th, 2019

2. • Of all the issues facing young people in care and care leavers,
which are the most important, which outcomes matter
most?
• On the next slide is one framework for thinking about these
outcomes / issues developed by Social Finance (2017)
• Note that the framework suggests a view that education
(and work) must ‘wait’ until other issues are resolved

3. (Social Finance, 2017 )

4. • We used to believe that ‘education must wait’ until the other
problems are sorted. Ideas are changing. But not completely.
• I am arguing that we should give higher priority to education
and work. They should not have to wait. Instead, they can be
part of the solution for other issues as well.

5. Some of the questions to explore in the
presentation……
• Why should we prioritise education AND work?
• When should work start and education end? School until 18? Work after18?
• What do we understand by ‘education’ and ‘work’ for care experiencedyoung
people?
• When are care experienced young people ‘education ready’ or work ready’
• What are the kinds of things that motivate young people in the worldsof
education and work?

6. • We know that the education journey begins around age 5 or
6 – maybe even earlier
• But when does the education journey end?
• And when do work journeys begin? Work journeys for care
experienced young people?

7. Saoirse Ronan – star of Mary Queen of Scots
(an example of starting workearly)
• First acting role at age 9 in TV
series
• Starred in film Atonement at age
12
• Oscar nomination at age 13
• Reminder that work can start early
– but how early for young people
in care??

8. • Saoirse Ronan did not grow up in care
• But her story highlights how young people can sometimes enter the
world of work when they are very young
• What follows now is a set of six examples of care experienced adults
whose stories show how their work ‘story’ also began at an earlyage

9. The Writer
• Allan Jenkins grew up in
foster care
• Now editor of the
Observer [London
newspaper] Food
Magazine.
• Also a Gardener and a
Writer about gardening
• (and thanks to Barry Luckock for
alerting me to Allan’s work)

10. • He has recently written
a remarkable book
• about his life in care -
and in gardening
• and the life-long
meaning of both

11. How Allan became aGardener
• ‘Without early success at growing as a kid, I
guess, I might not be doing it now. It was the
first time as a child I thought I might begifted
at something.
• ‘In south Devon, Dudley [foster father] gave
Christopher and me [at age 5] two pocket-
sized patches of garden and two packets of
seed.……..
• ‘I was handed nasturtium flowers: chaotic
cascades of reds, oranges and yellows …………..
I was amazed (still am) that so much life can
come from a small packet.’

12. • The seeds of his working (and
recreational) life were quite literally
sown at age 5 when his foster father
who loved gardening gave Allan and
his brother packets of seeds for
planting
• His embryonic gardening efforts and
skills led to the display of flowers
• The flowers were the result of his
work, his completion of a
meaningful task with a public ‘face’

13. The Poet: Lemn Sissay,
Poet, Performer and Care
Leaver
•Started writing his poetry at age 12
•Started selling his first poetry book at
age 17
• Had his first two page spread in the
Guardian newspaper at age 21
• Poetry was his ‘work’ of self discovery

14. Lemn Sissay,Poet,
Care Leaver
•‘the only proof of my existence
was in the poetry I had
written since the age of
twelve….without family I had
poems. (Sissay, 2017, xvii-xviii)

15. The Actor
Barry Keoghan (25)
grew up in foster care,
and formal kinship care
in inner city Dublin
• At age 16, he secured small role in
Irish film ‘Between the Canals’.
• Inspired by this experience, he spent
time watching film classics instead of
going to school
• “I’d watch Paul Newman and all
these greats and I was like ‘Who are
these?’ I was learning my craft by
watching these old movies. I was
getting educated and I didn’t even
know it.” (Quote from recent
interview in The Guardian)
• https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/sep/03/barry-
keoghan-american-animals-star-interview

16. The Footballer
Paul McGrath, IrishInternational,
Manchester United, Aston Villa etc
(in care from early age; footballer from age 13)
•‘Soccer made me as
a person. It gave me
the identity I had
been searching for,
the expression of my
personality that had
been looking for an
escape valve for so
long.’ (McGrath &
Dervan, 1994, p. 26)

17. The Athlete –
Fatima Whitbread
• Fatima Whitbread grew up in
care
• Started javelin throwing at
age 11
• Won Olympic bronze,
competed at 3 Olympics,
was world champion

18. The Writer – JenniFagan
• Grew up in care in Scotland
• [Interviewer]Why do you write?
I have been writing for as long as I can remember and
originally (as a child) it was to record what I saw, to
entertain, to find a place where I could have a voice.
• As a kid I worked in fish and chip shops, burger bars.
• https://www.foyles.co.uk/jenni-fagan

19. Lessons from Six Care Leavers–
Allan Jenkins, Lemn Sissay, Barry Keoghan,
Paul McGrath, Fatima Whitbread and JenniFagan
• The skills and interests that led them to a (work) identity and
livelihood were laid down early
• Allan Jenkins sowed his first seeds at age 5
• Lemn Sissay wrote his first poems at age 12
• Barry Keoghan’s life as an actor began in his teens
• Paul McGrath began his footballing career at age 13
• Fatima Whitbread began javelin throwing at age 11
• Jenni Fagan began writing as a child – and has never stopped

20. Work skills emerged………
• Not through a ‘boot camp’ on employment skills at the point of leaving
care
• Special talents – yes, but………
• Similar message from the young people in the five country studies so far in
the Care to Work Study (Arnau-Sabates and Gilligan, 2015) – influence of early
opportunities
• Adult support often allowed young people to express their identity through
their interest and talent
• Their own energy and agency in their own time allowed the young people
make progress
• They learned about life and themselves through their early work journey

21. Lessons for Work Support
• More than about employment
• Not a system led approach, but a young person led….
• Build opportunities based on the self-identified interest,experience
and supports of the young person
• Work-relevant experience sought out by young person often inspired
further effort on education front (Care to Work cases)

22. Work cultivates….
• ‘Recognition’, soft and hard skills, positive identity, the young person’sagency,
interest in education, the joining of othercommunities
• Gardening made Allan Jenkins more than a child in foster care. His love of
growing plants gave him an additional identity as a gardener. It gave him another
identity beyond ‘young person in care’.
• He had a language, an enthusiasm and a skill set to share with other gardeners.
• From an early age he learned to ‘perform’ as a gardener, Lemn Sissay as a poet,
Barry Keoghan as an actor, Paul McGrath as a footballer, Fatima Whitbread as an
athlete, Jenni Fagan as a writer

23. Work as a way outof
the ‘Bubble ofCare’?
(Gilligan, 2018)
• Social networks for many young
people in care are often made up
solely of other young people in care,
or adults who work in the care
system
• Children may develop a ‘master
identity’ of ‘being in care’
• Risk of feeling stigmatised, restricted
in options / ambitions
• Becoming trapped in ‘narrative of
failure’
• Work offers opportunities to try out
new identities / roles / narrative

24. Mazatlan, Mexico: a boy playsa trumpetnext to other
musicians at a church as part of St Cecilia's day
celebrations
Photograph: Reuters
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/gallery/2011/nov/23/
24-hours-in-pictures-
gallery#/?picture=382253917&index=4
Rethinking ‘Work’
– as ‘performance that
matters’

25. Work as Performance
• Performance in ‘real world’ – real tasks with real consequences –
flowers grow, films are made, poems are published, goals are scored
or saved, medals are won, books are published
• Performance - Using and developing real skills in real world in real
time
• Outside ‘bubble of care’ – allows care experienced young people join
other communities of interest, gain additional identities

26. Expansive
view of ‘Work’
• Work
• Where performance of role / task has
meaningful consequences
• Where some degree of ‘agency’ is
exercised
• Where useful skills (both ‘soft’ and
functional) are rehearsed and acquired
• Not just formal paid work – also
volunteering, hobbies, internships,
activity in sport, arts etc

27. South African story –
the transformative power of work
‘What I enjoy the most is the people
that I work with and the friendships that
they have for me.
I have learnt to cook and to make a lot
of stuff.
I have learnt that I can stand up for
myself.
I can be with people that I am not used
to being with as equals and I can make
friendships with them……….
…….The internship has given me more
confidence and it has helped me to look
after myself and my family…….. (quote
from care experienced young person inTanur, 2012)
Work

28. ‘Lorraine’s’ journey back and forth between education and work:
You weren’t going to get anywhere by working in a pizza shop really, em,
for the rest of your life.’ (Arnau-Sabates and Gilligan, 2015)
School work
experience stint in
florist
(via carer’s neighbour)
Jobs in florist
(passed Interflora exams)
Managing pizza
outlet
(becomes lone parent)
Seeks start on
further education
ladder as alternative
Now qualified
professional in
health and social
field

29. ‘Lorraine’:
‘getting there’
– in the end
• Role of support in first step on work ladder –and
well before school completion
• Relevance of life course perspective (Brady&Gilligan,2018)
• Early work begins gradual progress in world of
work
• Parenthood crystalised decision to raisework
ambitions
• ‘You weren’t going to get anywhere by working in a pizzashop
really, em, for the rest of your life.’
• Educational re-entry (mid twenties - driven by work
experiences / ambition) led gradually to greater
attainment (encouraged by carers, boyfriend, fellow
students etc)
• ‘Dawning’ agency – her sense of her own agency
built gradually and tentatively

30. Value of ‘Work’ as ‘Performance’
Rehearsing
‘agency’
Earning
‘Recognition’

31. Work opportunities for care experienced young people –the
wider issue of work opportunities for young people
• Higher rates of youth unemployment
• Why?
• Issue of lack of experience
• ‘experience gap’ (Pastore, 2018)

32. Experience gap for young people in care
• How to close the experience gap for care experienced young people
• What type of experience counts?

33. Young People’s ‘Experience Gap’ – a barrier
for them in world of work
• ‘Young people are becoming ever more educated around the world,
but they still …………lack work-related competences. These
competences can only be acquired on the job, through general and
job-specific work experience. This experience gap generates an
experience trap as employers search for employees who already
possess competences, but young people need work experience to
acquire them.’(Pastore, 2018)
• How do young people in care get to close this experience gap?

34. ‘Of course, the reality of life for many care
leavers is that available employment is often
low skilled and poorly paid. Nonetheless, for
some young people moving on, it was notable
that they viewed these jobs as means to an
end, or as a vehicle for moving onwards,
conscious that even poor jobs have the
potential to lead somewhere more positive:
“As far as I am now, I am trying to work
up in it (a job in a fast food
takeaway)… When you’re at the
bottom it’s really crap… but I’m trying
to go up in it, so I can do part time
management while I’m studying for
the good management salary” (Bill,
Victoria, currently in accommodation
supported by a post care support
agency) (Johnson & Mendes, 2014).

35. School
Work
Experience
Work

36. Learning takes place in different places
Recreation
WorkEducation

37. Lessons for Adults and Carers
• In this expansive view of work, age recedes in importance as a
boundary of experience or opportunity.
• Even when very young, children can learn the skills of ‘performance’
• The seeds sown by five year old Allan Jenkins had a fair chance of
matching the same effort by an adult
 ‘Work’ opportunities while in care, not just when leaving

38. • Education is a life time project – for everyone, but especially for people weighed
down by childhood baggage
• People should be on the ‘education bus’, and should be able to get on and offit
over time.
• A person getting off the ‘education bus’ before 18 should not mean that they
cannot get back on the education bus later on in their twenties, thirties andeven
later
• Work can help people see the point of getting back on the ‘education bus’,give
them the first glimmer of confidence to try it

39. How
expectations
can exert
influence
• Young people pick up the expectations others
have for them
• And in turn, they internalise these expectations
as the frame of their aspirations forthemselves
(Sulimani-David, 2017)
• Many ingredients go to make up positive
progress in the life of a young person in care
• But perhaps the most important is hope – a
belief in their potential (by themselves and
others)

40. ‘Battle of the Narratives’ -
Narratives of Failure and Narratives of Potential
(Gilligan, 2015, 2017)
(Competing Perceptions of Impact of Care in research, policy and public discourses)
Narrative of Failure Narrative of Potential
‘Rule of Pessimism’
about care and
prospects for children
Leaves some space for
optimism about
progress for young
people in care

41. • Work and education should not be seen as competitors – but as allies
• Together they can be allies in the ‘battle of the narratives’.
• Together they can help people to get to a better place in their lives

42. References
• Arnau-Sabates, L. and Gilligan, R., (2015). What helps young care leavers to enter the world of work? Possible lessons from an exploratory study in Ireland and Catalonia.Children and Youth Services Review 53, (June),
p185-191
• Brady, E. and Gilligan, R. (2018)‘The Life Course Perspective: An integrative research paradigm for examining the educational experiences of adult care leavers?’ Children and YouthServices Review 87,69-77.
• Gilligan, R. (2018) ‘The Untapped Potential of ‘Work’ for Looked After Young People – Challenges and Opportunities’ Public Seminar Series, Department of Educationand Rees Centre, University of Oxford, April 23rd,
• Gilligan, R. (2017).Disrupting narratives of failure: How foster carers can help cultivate long term narratives of potential for young people in foster care. 9th International Foster Care ResearchConference, Universite
Paris Nanterre, France, September 2017.
• Gilligan, R. (2015)Comments as Invited Respondent at Launch of the research report The Educational Progressof Looked After Children in England: linking care and educationaldata. Nuffield Foundation. London,
November 30th
• Gilligan, R. (in press) ‘Work Matters: Re-thinking the TransformativePotential of Education and Work in the Lives of Young People in Care and Care Leavers’ in eds. PatriciaMcNamara, Carme Montserrat & Sarah Wise
Education in Out-of-Home Care - InternationalPerspectiveson Policy, Practice and Research Springer
• Jackson, J. (2003)Triumph and despair: Fatima Whitbread Observer Sport Monthly, Sunday 2 March
• Jenkins, A., 2017 Allan Jenkins’s Plot 29: ‘Gardening has been my therapy’ The Observer Sunday 12th March https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/12/allan-jenkins-plot-29-gardening-is-my-therapy-extract-
fostering
• McGrath, P. & Dervan, C. (1994)Ooh Aah Paul McGrath – TheBlack Pearl of Inchicore Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing.
• Morrison , S. (2016).In care, aftercareand caring for those in care: my successfulcare journey. Child Care in Practice, 22, 2, 113-127.
• Pastore, F. (2018). Why is youth unemployment so high and different across countries?. IZA World of Labor. Retrieved from https://wol.iza.org/articles/why-is-youth-unemployment-so-high-and-different-across-
countries/long
• Sissay, L. (2017)Gold from the Stone Edinburgh: Canongate Books
• Social Finance (2017) Leaving Well: An outcomes framework to promotesuccessfultransitions for care leavers. Technical Guide. London
https://www.socialfinance.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/leavingwell_152x228_final-1.pdf
• Sulimani-Aidan, Yafit. "To dream the impossible dream: Care leavers' challenges and barriers in pursuing their future expectations and goals." Children and YouthServices Review 81 (2017):332-339.
• Tanur, C. (2012).Project Lungisela: Supporting young people leaving state care in South Africa. Child Care in Practice, 18(4), 325-340.