The purpose of this article is to explore whether the concept of social capital is helpful in explaining the educational underachievement of looked after children.
Analysis of data on educational achievement and social care in a cohort of 1,407 children over the age of 15 who left care in two Scottish local authorities between 2000 and 2005.
The educational attainments of children do reflect key factors in their backgrounds before entry to care but their characteristics also lead them to be placed in specific placements that have differing abilities for promoting social capital. An examination of evidence on bonding social capital, bridging social capital, and linking social capital and trust, shows that social capital theory helps to theoretically interpret the low educational achievements of looked after children.
The large and comprehensive data set permits a factor analysis of background and care variables, thus clarifying the significance of each in explaining children's educational attainments and assessing the value of a social capital perspective.
