Evaluation of the Extension of Virtual School Heads' Duties to Children with a Social Worker. Final Report

Abstract

The Virtual School Head (VSH) was, until September 2021, the Local Authority (LA) officer statutorily tasked with promoting the education of children looked after (CLA) and previously looked after children (PLAC). In 2021, following the publication of The Children in Need Review (DfE, 2018b) and subsequent research by the Universities of Bristol and Oxford (Berridge et al., 2020; Sinclair et al. 2020) the role of the VSH was extended to Children with a Social Worker (CWSW); defined as children currently or previously on a Child in Need (CIN) plan or Child Protection (CP) plan. The extension of duties was introduced in response to evidence suggesting that as a group CWSW had poorer average educational outcomes at every stage of education than all other groups of children (DfE, 2018b). The extension was introduced on a non-statutory footing and funding was allocated to VSHs in every LA in England until the end of the 2025 financial year. The non-statutory guidance (DfE, June 2022, updated in 2024) made clear that the extension of the VSH's duties is a strategic leadership role to champion the educational attendance, attainment, and progress of CWSW. The objectives of the duty were to make visible the disadvantages that CWSW could experience and enhance partnerships between education settings and LAs to help all agencies hold high aspirations for CWSW; promote practices that support children's engagement in education, recognising that attending an education setting can be an important factor in helping to keep children safe from harm; and to level up children's outcomes and narrow the attainment gap so every child reaches their potential. A key section of the guidance made clear that VSHs are not expected to conduct direct work with individual children and their families. The Rees Centre was commissioned to undertake a formative evaluation of Phase Two of the extension of VSHs duties to CWSW to understand how the VSH extension of duties has been implemented and to consider any potential effects of the implementation. This builds on the Phase One pilot conducted by Sebba et al. (2022) which covered the first six months of the extension. The Phase Two evaluation covers the period October 2022 to November 2024.