Originally published in 1994, In Loco Parentis provides a basic framework for training staff in boarding and residential education and care establishments for children and young people. It addresses the needs of all involved with providing care in such contexts, whether academic, pastoral or domestic, though its main focus is on the training of teachers and care professionals. Its topicality arose from the growing realisation that the boarding environment creates specific training needs which had - for the most part - been met informally, if at all, in the past.

The Holbrook Group comprised practitioners involved in research and training across the entire field of boarding and residential education and care.