The educational potential of many children in the state’s care, including those in institutional homes
and fostered or adopted children, is unfulfilled. One possible contributory factor to their lack of
success is that schools do not fully address their wider personal anxieties and insecurities. Attachment
theory has been adopted in several educational districts (‘local authorities’) in England, and
this study reports on an evaluative mixed-methods research study of such training; it also theorises
this as a broader question about how schools engage with research. There was rich evidence that the
programme had an impact on whole staff understanding of attachment theory. Teachers and staff
commented positively on the impact of the programme; impact on pupils’ outcomes was hard to
quantify, though qualitative findings suggested that well-being was improving. Senior leader commitment,
support and resource allocation were crucial to effectively embedding the training, and
various structural issues were illuminated. The implications for embedding attachment awareness
more widely are discussed, and for our understanding of research use by schools.