'They said I was bad for the school's reputation'

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IT IS A common belief, but a myth, that there has been an increase in the number of teenagers becoming mothers in recent years. Factfile, a collection of statistics compiled by One Parent Families Scotland, reports that among 13-15-year-olds, the rate increased between 1983 and 1988, but has remained steady at about eight in 1000 since then. Births to schoolgirls in Scotland have ranged from 450 to 660 a year in the past decade. In 1999, researchers for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported that the provision of education for pregnant teenagers was inconsistent both within and between regions and that pregnancy often marked the beginning of girls' detachment from education. While the UK Government is keen for pregnant teenagers to attend school and return to school as mothers, the researchers found there was little practical support or understanding about the psychological impact of early pregnancy on teenagers. My research was with school-aged mothers in Scotland. My interest was stimulated when I realised that despite media reports of rising numbers of pregnant teenagers, they were almost invisible to services. When I asked about pregnancies in the schools I worked in as an educational psychologist, it seemed that expectant schoolgirls and school-age mothers were known to the head teachers, but did not attend school. It was not clear whether they were unable to go to school or whether the school preferred them not to be there. I hypothesised that schools knew who these pupils were, but they appeared unable to consider their educational needs; perhaps finding it difficult to have them in school. I wondered whether the school was anxious about the message that having pregnant girls at school might send to other students. Were adults in the school concerned that the number of pregnant girls might increase? Extensive research revealed that very little has been written about the actual experiences of school-age mothers and the work that had been done focused on the social implications of school-age motherhood in terms of the "cost to society". So, what was it that caused pregnant schoolgirls to disappear from the education system when they discovered, and it became known, that they were pregnant? Several of the girls I interviewed reported a favourable school experience during their primary education. While experiences in secondary school were more varied, many had been successful in their exams.

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