David Berridge

Professor of Child and Family Welfare

University of Bristol, England

BIO

David Berridge is Professor of Child and Family Welfare at the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, England. He was formerly Research Director at the National Children's Bureau in London, Research Fellow at the Dartington Social Research Unit and Director of the Institute of Applied Social Research, University of Bedfordshire. David has been a researcher for 30 years and is author / co-author of 12 books and around 100 other reports, chapters and articles. His research specialises particularly on children in public care and living away from home, especially residential care and educational disadvantage. David's latest project is a major study of the education of children in need and children in care. He teaches on a range of social work and academic courses to help develop research-minded practitioners. He was awarded the OBE by the Queen in January 2005 for services to children and has acted as children's services advisor to the Parliament House of Commons Educati on Select Committee.

TITLE

Outcomes for Children in Care: Agency and Resilience

ABSTRACT

Professor Berridge has been a UK child welfare researcher and educator for some 30 years. His most recent research has focused on the educational attainment of children in care [1]. This has been very influential on child welfare public policy in England. In this lecture , Professor Berridge will outline social work and educational services for children in care in England, who are separated from their birth families and living with foster families or in residential homes. He will discuss the outcomes of child welfare services with particular emphasis on educational attainment and progress. He will present his major research findings concerning how to improve children's educational experiences. He will highlight the importance of recognising children's own agency and resilience and how these are essential to understanding how children can make educational progress.

[1] See: http: //www.bristol.ac.uk/sps/research/projects/current/the-educational-attainment/