Supporting transitions for care experienced young people and students: Exploring the importance of social capital in their educational and life transitions

Smith, Philip ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3491-4519 and Evans, Ceryn 2026. Supporting transitions for care experienced young people and students: Exploring the importance of social capital in their educational and life transitions. Jindal-Snape, Divya, ed. The Palgrave International Handbook of Multiple and Multi-Dimensional Educational and Life Transitions, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 159-178. (10.1007/978-3-032-11145-6_8)

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Abstract

This chapter explores the educational and life transitions of care experienced people. Through a focus on two distinct settings in which life and educational transitions were prominent for care experienced young people and students, we illuminate how social capital plays an important role in supporting their transitions. The two settings on which we focus in this chapter include a pupil referral unit (PRU) in Wales in which care experienced young people were anticipating transitions from compulsory to post-compulsory education, and transitions to and through higher education (HE) of undergraduate students and recent graduates from England and Wales. Drawing on the voices of care experienced young people, students and graduates in these settings, we highlight the ways in which their transitions were supported and enabled by relationships and connections with significant other adults. Although the contexts we focus on are distinct, they share some common themes, including the multiple transitions experienced by the young people at the centre of our research. As such, the chapter draws on Jindal-Snape’s (A–Z of transitions, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) Multiple and Multi-dimensional Transitions (MMT) Theory to help make sense of these multiple transitions for care experienced people. Specifically, we explore the degree to which two of the XII Pillars for successful transitions—social capital and significant others’ ability to support transitions—are available to those with experience of care in the studies discussed. Our research comes at a time when the voices of those with experience of the care system are beginning to be heard to a greater degree across academic and policy contexts. By presenting their voices here, we hope to illuminate the ways in which their transitions are always located in wider social structures which frame the nature of their transitions and educational and life opportunities.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) Research Institutes & Centres > Children’s Social Care Research and Development Centre (CASCADE)
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN:	9783032111449
Related URLs:	Publisher
Last Modified:	23 Jun 2026 10:38
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/186089

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