The impact of poverty on young children's experience of school (original) (raw)

2007, York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Potter and Alex Tennant. My thanks to them for giving freely of their time and for their constructive criticism. vii viii x Ridge talked to children and young people aged ten to 17 and found that children living in low-income families were more likely to be socially excluded, or to exclude themselves, within school. They expressed concerns about having the right clothes, particularly for non-uniform days. Even with school uniforms, they were concerned about having the 'right' shoes or trainers. Many young people whose families lived in poverty were unable to participate fully in school life, because their parents simply could not afford it. Save the Children and the Children's Rights Alliance in England (Willow, 2001) and Save the Children in Wales (Crowley and Vulliamy, 2002) talked to children and young people about the effects of poverty and found that even children as young as Most advantaged Most disadvantaged Key Stage 1 maths (% level 3) 50 21 Key Stage 1 English (% level 3) 42 12 Key stage 2 maths (% level 5) 46 15 Key Stage 2 English (% level 5) 25 2 Source: Gallagher (2006). Non-FSM Eligible for FSM Key Stage 1 maths (% level 2 and above) 93 80 Key Stage 1 reading (% level 2 and above) 88 70 Key Stage 2 maths (% level 4 and above) 78 55 Key Stage 2 English (% level 4 and above) 81 58 Source: DfES (2005). Socioeconomic context of schools The impact of poverty on children's school experiences cannot be explored, or explained, without taking into account the social, economic and educational context in which the schools are situated. There is considerable evidence of a link between areas with high levels of deprivation and lower levels of educational attainment. Wheeler et al. (2005) studied the relationship between poverty, affl uence and area. They found that those areas with the highest proportions of young people with no qualifi cations tend to have the fewest teachers available. By contrast, those areas with a higher proportion of qualifi ed young people tend to have many adults (around the age of these young people's parents) with degree-level qualifi cations. Lupton (2004, 2005) found a strong relationship between levels of deprivation and the 'quality' of schools in an area. Lupton does, however, counsel caution in relation to the defi nition of 'quality' in schools, since many of the 'quality' measures are measures of outcome and do not take account of progress made by pupils who start with high levels of disadvantage. Nor do such measures always value the work that schools in disadvantaged areas have to do to promote children's 'welfare and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development' (Lupton, 2005, p. 590). The Department of Education is also the lead government department working to draw up a programme of measures across a range of areas to best target the Children and Young People Funding Package of £100 million over 2006/07 and 2007/08. The overall objective of the Children and Young People funding package is: