Memorandum submitted by Dr Amanda Wade,
University of Sheffield
SUMMARY
This evidence draws on a study of the support
available to, and appreciated by, young children facing parental
separation or divorce. With regard to school, the children valued
the indirect support provided by activities such as Circle Time
(where hypothetical problems are discussed). Their views on direct
support were mixed; some saw certain chosen members of school
staff as trustworthy adults in whom to confide but others preferred
to keep their home and school lives separate.
1. I have conducted a number of research
studies with children and young people focusing on their experiences
of family life, including parental separation and divorce. My
research is, in the main, qualitative, which means that it focuses
on an in-depth exploration of participants' experiences, beliefs
and values.
2. Of most relevance to the Committee is
a study that I carried out with Carol Smart for the Joseph Rowntree
Foundation on the support which young children have available
to them when facing family change (Facing Family Change: Children's
circumstances, strategies and resources, JRF 2002).
3. The study was conducted in four primary
schools in Yorkshire that were chosen to reflect differences in
class, religion, ethnic mix, and urban/rural location. This core
selection was based on the idea that we wanted to interview children
who were likely to have very different life chances.
4. Work was carried out with children in
Year 2 (aged six to seven years) and Year 5 (aged nine to 10 years).
In addition to focus group work with children irrespective of
their family status, I conducted individual interviews with 53
children who had experience of parental separation or divorce.
5. The study showed:
(a) The diversity of children's experiences.
The normative image of children facing parental separation portrays
families where parents separate after a lengthy period of mutually
satisfying marriage or cohabitation. However, the family and parenting
arrangements experienced by children in our sample were highly
diverse, and included those whose parents had never lived together
(although they may have shared the upbringing of the children)
and others whose parents had formed a complex series of co-habiting
relationships.
(b) That divorce is only one of many
problems that some children face. Whilst it is important to
recognise the implications of a separation for children from well-resourced
families, it is equally important to be responsive to its effects
on those whose families have fewer material, social or emotional
resources. Separation or divorce was only one of many adversities
with which a number of children in this study were coping. Additional
pressures included chronic parental ill-health or unemployment,
poor housing conditions, family violence, limited parental manifestations
of care and, in some cases, drug abuse and crime.
(c) Schools can help children in a variety
of ways. Some children looked for outside support when made
anxious or upset by their family circumstances. Where they had
a good relationship with an adult in their school, they would
sometimes confide in them. However, the formal relationships often
existing between teachers and pupils tended to inhibit children
from confiding. Additionally, many children wanted their home
lives to remain private and preferred their school to offer an
opportunity to feel "normal", so helping them to "forget"
what was happening at home, or to feel "cheered up".
For those looking for direct assistance, privacy was important,
yet something not always easy to provide in open plan schools,
or where child protection policies discouraged one-to-one adult-child
interactions. Tackling issues of family change with whole-class
groups was generally welcomed by the children, as this provides
them with an unobtrusive means of obtaining information or learning
concrete skills (such as relaxation), thereby widening their choices
and means of obtaining help themselves. It also contributes towards
the promotion of a positive culture within schools towards difference
and diversity. Participative activities such as Circle Time were
an especially popular source of indirect support.
(d) The quality of helping relationships
matters to children. The children in this study wanted opportunities
for participation and choice in relation to their family lives
but they also appreciated knowing that adults would care for them
and anticipate their needs. The personal qualities of the adults
around them mattered; trustworthiness, empathy, cheerfulness and
kindness were particularly valued in teachers and support staff,
and it was these qualities that led children to confide in them,
if at all.
July 2006
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