Barriers to the educational progress of care leavers: The neglected role of stigma?

• Stigma is a potential barrier to educational progress for care leavers / care experienced people. • Experiences of/responses to stigma among care leavers occur across data in three jurisdictions. • Further research on the role of stigma in shaping this groups’ educational progress is required. Barriers that contribute to the educational challenges faced by many care leavers / care-experienced people have been increasingly recognised in recent research. However, the role of stigma as one such barrier in the educational progress of care leavers has received limited attention to date. This paper aims to highlight the potential role of experiences of, and responses to, stigma in shaping the educational progress of care leavers. The authors draw on data from three qualitative studies using one-to-one interviews in Austria, Ireland, and Switzerland, each examining aspects of the educational experiences of care leavers aged 18 – 39. The cross-national (multi-country) nature of this paper allows the perspectives of care leavers living in diverse contexts and systems to be included. Findings suggest that many participants across the three countries experience stigmatisation in different contexts along their educational pathways. There is also evidence of their responding to this stigmatisation with a range of strategies by which they sought to mitigate the negative impact of stigma on their educational and wider progress. Theoretical, policy and practice implications of the cross-national analysis are explored.