Education
Education professionals
One of our projects found that 75% of the young carers they supported had not been known to be carers by anyone in their school. This section tells you how to spot a young carer and the easy ways that you can help the young carers that are currently unsupported in your school. There is also the latest government guidance on young carers for your nation.
The following document is recommended reading in current DfES and Teachernet guidance:
Young Carers: Guidance for Schools and Local Authorities (466 KB)
The Trust has produced 'Doing the Right Thing Well in Schools' to assist Scottish young carers services to work in partnership to evaluate and improve the quality of the work done with young carers and their families, and to encourage and enable schools to eventually be self sufficient in their support for young carers. The guide was created by Kelly Macey our Quality Consultant in conjunction with Louise Morgan Scottish Young Carers Development Manager at The Trust.
Advice and guidance from the DCSF to schools and local authorities on managing behaviour and attendance tells schools in England that young carers are at ‘particular risk’ and that schools should consider designating a member of staff to have responsibility for young carers.
Funded by The DCSF The Trust and The Children’s Society are working in partnership (The Include Partnership) to deliver training, information and best practice examples to local authorities in England. Together we are developing a set of resources which includes:-
School Lead for Young Carers and their Families (An Exemplar for a Job Description)
To request copies of this template please send an e-mail to the Include Partnership administrator Toni-Marie Smith stating which Local Authority you are from, a contact e-mail and the title of the template requested.
If you are a teacher who has a young carer in your class then the Teacher's Action List offers some clear steps for you to take when working with this young person.
Our Schools Action List provides teachers and schools with some simple solutions to improving school- wide support for young carers.
If you are interested in what other young carers services and schools have done to support young carers more effectively, please take a look at some of our good practice examples.
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Doing the Right Thing Well in Schools: A Good Practice Guide