An exploration of the views and experiences of Designated Teachers in helping to create an Attachment Aware School

Past research indicates the importance of attachment figures beyond the primary carer. This is especially relevant to children and young people (CYP) who have grown up in the care system and are more likely to have attachment needs due to numerous carers and multiple patterns of attachment formed. Attachment Aware schools (AAS) aim to meet attachment needs by creating safe, supportive nurturing environments. This qualitative, exploratory study aims to shed light on the process of creating an AAS. Five Designated Teachers (DT)s were interviewed retrospectively a year after joining the AAS award (AASA) project. DTs from primary schools based in Southeast England were interviewed remotely or in person. Interview transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to provide insights into the lived experience of each DT. Individual and shared themes were identified; Five superordinate themes were identified: ‘Defining features of the AASA’, ‘Motivations to join the AASA’, ‘Factors that facilitated the success of the project’, ‘Potential barriers to the success of the project’ and ‘What does change look like?’. This research provides insight into defining the features of AAS, what helps to create systemic change in schools, as well as insights into the changes created from whole school training based on trauma, attachment and action research focus. This research offers first-hand insights into an area of limited study and has wider applicability to other sectors. Future research could explore the perspectives of service users to strengthen the validity of the approach.