Care in Comics: Care-experienced graduates

About the comic

What happens when your childhood circumstances constrain your opportunities as a university graduate? 

This comic follows care-experienced graduates as they navigate the transition out of higher education and into their graduate lives. It reveals the unique challenges they face despite their higher educational achievements - and contrasts the realities of making this transition with and without appropriate support. 

Along the way, it offers clear recommendations for local authorities, higher education institutions, and employers on how to make graduate opportunities fairer for those with backgrounds of care. 

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Dr Zoe Baker has been researching issues of inequality and social justice in higher education for over ten years and has previously received funding from the British Academy, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), and the Unite Foundation. Her work seeks to redress inequalities for care-experienced people's access to, progression through, and transitions out of higher education. Outside of her research activities, Zoe volunteers as an Independent Visitor for children and young people in care.

Research website: https://www.drzoebaker.co.uk/
BlueSky : @drzoebaker.bsky.social

Research funded by the British Academy, award number PF21210020

Care in Comics: Storying Social Care Research funded by CIRCLE, University of Sheffield

With thanks to the Department of Education, The University of York, who hosted this research.

Team details

Researcher: Dr Zoe Baker
Comics producer and editor: Gabi Putnoki
Illustrator: Rosie Murrell

About the research

Care-experienced people overcome significant challenges to enter and complete higher education. These include disrupted schooling, stigma and mental health challenges arising from childhood trauma.  While previous research has led to improved support for accessing higher education, little attention has been provided to their graduate transitions until the Care-Experienced Graduates Project (2021-2024). 

This qualitative, longitudinal study used repeat interviews and participant diaries to explore how care-experienced graduates navigated life after higher education, examining what supported or hindered their progress, and how their care backgrounds influenced their journeys. 

Definitions

Care leavers are those who have been in the care of their local authority for 13 weeks or more. This period also needs to span their 16th birthday. They are entitled to the support of a Personal Advisor in their local authority until the age of 25. 

Care-experienced includes those legally defined as care leavers, as well as anyone who has spent any length of time in care but does not meet the legal definition. Those who do not meet the legal definition of 'care-leaver' are not entitled to local authority support. 

Housing recommendations

1. Higher education institutions should provide graduation bursaries as part of their package of support for care-­experienced students.
2. Higher education institutions should offer extended university-owned student accommodation contracts into the immediate postgraduation period at both the undergraduate and taught postgraduate level to reduce the risk of homelessness.
3. Local authorities should offer guarantor schemes to enable care leavers to access privately rented housing following graduation¹.

¹A small number of local authorities have successfully implemented guarantor schemes
(for example Kent County Council and Teignbridge District Council), but this is not consistent across the sector.

Employment recommendations

1. Organisations and local authorities who work with employer partners to locate employment opportunities for care-experienced people should encourage employers to offer a Iivable wage that adequately sustains independent living.
2. Organisations should identify and address unconscious bias and stereotypical perceptions by investing in training on care-experience².
3. Organisations should conduct an assessment of trauma training needs across management staff to identify areas for development³, and address these through the recruitment of a high quality trauma trainer⁴.
4. Organisations should create a culture that views accommodations and reasonable adjustments as the norm for employees by incorporating exploratory discussions and the requisite planning for this into the formal onboarding process.

² The Rees Foundation's 'Caring for care leavers in employment' course is one example of such training.
³  See NHS Education for Scotland (2019:58-65) 'Appendix 1: Trauma training needs assessment and planning: Guidance for managers'.
⁴ For guidance on locating a high-quality and effective trauma trainer, please see NHS Education for Scotland (2019:30-34 ).

Postgraduate study recommendations

1. Higher education institutions should integrate a contextual component to hardship funds at the taught postgraduate level. This should allow flexibility for care-experienced students when assessing existing financial resources, acknowledging that these protect against more precarious transitions out of postgraduate study in the absence of family support.
2. Higher education institutions should create postgraduate scholarships for care-experienced students to assist with the cost of living.
3. Local authorities should clearly state whether support for taught postgraduate students is included in their local offer. Where such support exists, the local offer should explain what is available and set out a clear process for accessing it.

Comic pages