The educational experience of young people in residential care through the lens of learning careers.

To complement previous research investigating the educational attainment of young people in out‐of‐home care reporting lower educational outcomes and risk factors, a more comprehensive approach is necessary. Our objective with this article is to better understand the learning careers of young people in residential care. That includes documenting their experience and the meaning they attribute to learning in formal settings over time and identifying critical turning points in each young person's learning career. Based on an interpretative paradigm, we conducted a qualitative study using biographical interviews with young people aged 14–18 in residential care in Quebec, Canada. We first demonstrate that the learning careers of young people in residential care are unique and non‐linear. Second, by studying turning points, we highlight the critical role that institutions, teachers and youth workers can play in fostering a positive or negative learning career. Finally, we noted learners' different responses to these circumstances and differences in learners' perception of their measured performance and their influence on their engagement with formal learning. We discuss why considering young people as the main actors and producers of meaning regarding their educational experience and learning careers appears necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]