Young Carers Should Be Taught In Schools Essay

As education takes up a large part of a child's life it's important to recognise that what happens in their homes doesnt always stay there. With these issues hijacking their everyday lives, children who are carers or parentified often lose out on a typical childhood having instead to focus on issues that are often inappropriate for their age group and can create long term effects. There has been debate over whether children who are carers and parentified are truly harmed, while some kids can thrive on the responsibility more often than not they crumble under the pressure and are exposed to stressful and traumatic situations that can cause mental health issues for them later in life, educational disadvantages, and extreme relationship problems

Young carers are four times more likely to drop out of higher education and have a harder time in school environments due to their home lives (Kettell, 2018). The data available about young carers and their education is extremely limited especially for education rates of those still in primary and secondary schooling, however when looking at higher level education certain themes can be cross applied. Students who are young carers often put their own needs behind the person(s) they are caring for, this means social interaction, emotional learning, and even school often fall behind. Especially when the role of a young carer affects other parts of a child's life, young carers are more likely to miss school and have lower scores on high stakes testing such as GCSEs (Carers Trust 2013). Not only do these actively harm the child at the time but they can prevent children from reaching their potential given their circumstances as grades and attendance rates are important factors for acceptance to higher