A National Education Union snapshot poll of 1,026 teachers* in
England paints a harrowing picture of the increase in poverty
seen in our schools and the daily impact it is having on children
and young people.
- 46% of teachers
confirm that holiday hunger has got worse compared to three years
ago.
- 63% of respondents
say that more families are unable to afford adequate winter
clothes or shoes compared to three years ago.
- 46% of teachers
believe that there are more housing issues (poor quality,
insecure, overcrowded or temporary accommodation) compared to
three years ago.
- 53% of respondents
believe that more children and young people will go hungry over
Christmas.
- 40% of respondents
say schools are having to provide extra items for children and
young people and their families because of increased
poverty.
Teachers readily gave distressing examples from their school
about the effect living in poverty was having on the children and
young people they teach. (A comprehensive selection is in the
attached report.) As the cold weather sets in, teachers’
observations included:
- “Mute students, going cold, making excuses, feeling ashamed.”
- “We are buying them coats on a scale never seen before.”
- “I found out last week that a third of my class sleep in
their uniforms as they don’t have pyjamas.”
- “Kids come in without winter coats even in the coldest
weather, or with shoes held together by tape.”
- “Holes in shoes, no outside coat, trousers far too short,
holes in clothes, still wearing sandals/unsuitable footwear in
November (on very cold days)”
- “We give free school dinners to children who don’t qualify
for FSM [free school meals] because their parents work but have
contacted us to say they have no money that day”
- “One student wore his trousers backwards as he didn’t want
anyone to know he had holes in the knees.”
Further, the poll revealed that the impact of living in poverty
on children and young people’s education is stark. Teachers
observed a wide range of consequences including absence from
school (83%), behavioural issues (85%), concentration (81%),
health (59%) and lateness to school (79%).
These are shameful findings that have no place in a modern
society. In-work poverty, housing issues such as high rents,
homelessness and insecurity, as well as fears about how matters
would deteriorate with Universal Credit, were other areas of
concerns raised by teachers.
Commenting on the poll, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint
General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“This is a Dickensian picture of the poverty that far too many
children and their families are having to endure. The Government
is out of touch with the distressing new reality of children’s
daily lives: with what it means to live without enough money for
basics, such as food, shoes and adequate clothing.
“The Government has failed to recognise the human cost of its
cuts to schools and other children’s services and to the social
security system, and its failure to address the in-work poverty
faced by 1 in 5 workers.
“The UN Envoy Philip Alston concluded in his recent report that
the Government is in a state of denial about the levels of
poverty in the UK. The Government must stop hiding from the
facts. Children can’t escape the poverty trap without an urgent
change to national policies.”
ENDS
2018-120-NEU
Editor’s Note:
* 1,026 members of the National Education Union responded to the
poll, which was conducted between 30 November – 3 December 2018.
Around three quarters of respondents were secondary school
teachers and a quarter were primary.
