New Moving On programme: “an integral part of a care leaver’s journey”

ASDAN’s research found that as of March 2023, there were 170,000 care leavers in the UK. 30% of school leavers who were in care were not in employment, education or training (NEET) nine months after leaving school, compared to 7% of all school leavers.

Recognising the critical need for care leaver support, Moving On is ASDAN’s new course that aims to equip young people with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to ‘move on’ to living independently after care.

Moving On consists of five journal books, which closely link to the key areas of care leaver pathway plans – Building a home, Being healthy, Starting your career, Managing money and Relating to People.

Barnet’s Education and Learning Service’s care leaver hub, Onwards and Upwards, took part in ASDAN’s Moving On pilot. Care Leavers Programme Manager, Anne-Marie Francies (pictured to the right), tells us how Moving On develops young people’s awareness of what it means to live independently:

“We wanted something that would engage young people in developing their money management skills because we’ve found that many of our young people get into debt once they transition to their own accommodation,” says Anne-Marie.

“Having delivered an ASDAN course many years ago, I reached out to them and spoke with the Relationship Manager for our area and I called at just the right time! ASDAN was beginning to create its new programme, Moving On, so I was privileged enough to become a part of its development,” says Anne-Marie.

“We chose two skills areas to focus on, reflected in two Moving On modules – Managing money and Building a home. The Moving On programme is helping us prepare care leavers still in college or living with a foster family for independent or semi-independent living.”

Building care leavers’ financial awareness

“Moving On’s Managing money module develops young people’s financial skills. A lot of care leavers don’t have the parental support to teach them the basic skills that they need to have developed at this point and if you don’t have those skills, you’re going to run into challenges.”

“When our young people were looking at grocery shopping as part of one of a Moving On practical activity, some of them were quite amazed at how expensive food can be!” says Anne-Marie.

“The activity encouraged them to look at different supermarkets when creating a shopping list and it was really interesting when they realised that where you shop, matters.”

“One of them had lots of meat in their shopping list and through the activity, they realised they wouldn’t be able to afford those items unless they were employed. There’s been quite a few “a-ha!” moments like this”, says Anne-Marie.

“When planning their meals through the module journal, they realised that it was going to be significantly cheaper to buy in bulk and cook more from scratch, rather than order pre-prepared food or takeaways. The activities helped them explore different meals and plan ahead.”

“Since completing the module, our young people are now using a budget, they know about credit and loan sharks and their general financial awareness level has been raised,” says Anne-Marie.

“Moving On has enabled our young people to develop key skills that are going to make a big impact on their lives. By applying the financial skills learned through practical activities, they’ll have the knowledge to stay away from debt and save money into their adulthood.”

Flexible, in-depth training to support educators

“Moving On’s training and modules cover key areas that young people and even many adults aren’t aware of, like tenancy rights and your responsibilities as a tenant,” says Anne-Marie.

“We promote our Moving On offer to social services, virtual schools and family services and departments working with looked-after young people. There are certain things that you can’t leave out of a young person's development and being able to take care of their home and health successfully. We see Moving On as an integral part of a young person's journey that you wouldn't want to move on without having access to.

"Learning in real-life contexts

“I like the activities in Moving On because they’re suitable for all learners, no matter your age, stage or competencies,” says Anne-Marie. “Young people remember activities but can forget words. Once you exit a learning space, the words are behind you, but the practical activities are more impactful as people remember them. Practical learning is always a winner.”

“Multiple staff members have fed back to us that Moving On is incredibly useful,” says Anne-Marie. “Another “a-ha!” moment for the care leavers was realising the cost of water, something that they may not have thought about before. They realised that it costs a certain amount just to flush the toilet. That discovery caused a behavioral change and they no longer pick something up off the floor and flush it, for example.”

“Moving On is giving young people more awareness,” says Anne-Marie. “They’re not taught these key skills in school so being able to open that door for them to learn these valuable skills is so useful.”

Developing employability skills

“We are thinking of exploring the Starting your career module next, as that’s another challenging area that we’ve identified for care leavers,” says Anne-Marie. “The Managing money and Building a home modules are so crucial in developing young people’s awareness of finding a home and paying for it but the Starting your career module would complement their growing financial awareness.”

“We hope that through Moving On, we’re able to impart key areas of knowledge so that care leavers not only get a job but are able to sustain it.”

“To date we’ve had 19 young people take part in Moving On. 15 have completed both modules and the rest are finishing the Building a home module. The module journals are flexible and have no time limit, so we’ve had young people complete a module in eight months and others in six weeks,” says Anne-Marie. “Moving On is adaptable for each young person’s needs and situation. It really works.”

For more information and to download sample materials, visit the Moving On course page. You can also get in touch to speak with us about how Moving On can benefit the young people in your community.