Poverty In The Classroom

Over the summer, Britain’s shocking disparity in education was laid bare, as circa 40% of students failed their maths and English GCSEs, the worst-performing region being the West Midlands. Despite being the third-largest spending area (behind only welfare and the NHS), the UK’s education system is another public service in crisis. Following years of austerity, the lasting effects of COVID-19, and the punishing cost of living crisis, students across all years face the burden of worry and uncertainty — from a struggling job climate and understaffed schools to university cuts. The Prime Minister continues to face an uphill climb to support the youth and restore hope in an abandoned generation. The question now is not whether inequality in the classroom exists, but why the younger generation must bear the price of it.

Inequality enters the classroom long before the students do. Studies show that students from struggling households have been falling behind in school long before results day arrives. The Institute for Fiscal Studies reported that only half of pupils eligible for free school meals achieve a “good level of development” in comparison to others, further stating that in the years 2022/23, just under 50% of those students failed to match typical expectations of literacy and maths by the end of primary school. The effects of poverty at home persist throughout the years of academia. Those who are eligible for free school meals have been reported to be almost 30% less likely to earn good GCSEs than those who aren’t. Among refreshed austerity and an ongoing cost of living crisis, struggling students face inequality long before teachers can make up for the difference, and this follows through to their pursuit of higher education.

However, it isn’t the home alone that determines a student’s learning. Since the COVID pandemic, schools have struggled, notwithstanding funding boosts, to tackle the pandemic hangover in of millions of missed classes. A study conducted by Public First, it was reported that the majority of parents believe underfunding is the biggest issue facing education today, and roughly 20% of those surveyed had already been asked to contribute to the running costs of the school. Impressions of state support have massively reduced since the days of austerity under Cameron, leaving teachers overburdened and suffering from concomitant low morale and burnout. Primary classrooms have been recorded as the largest in Europe, leaving schools struggling with an already demanding curriculum, see the 56% of schools which start teaching GCSEs from Year 9 rather than the recommended Year 10. School leaders and students alike are dissatisfied with the state of schooling, with working classes continuing to bear the brunt, feeling they lack a sense of belonging within education. The underfunding of schools ultimately mirrors wider socioeconomic divides, meaning that those from poorer backgrounds remain most affected by education failures.

The consequences of such underfunding are not just felt in GCSE results, but in the quality of school life itself. Budget cuts often mean that the arts and associated creative outlets are the first to go. A disparity has now formed between schools that can afford the “luxuries” of the arts and those that cannot. Schools deemed to be middle class manage to hold on to music and art education, while in working-class schools, these subjects are either reduced or cut entirely. Professor Diane Reay reports that working-class schools have thus seen a narrowing of their curriculum. This is not to say that middle-class schools have not been struggling also, with the arts just clinging on for many. This growing disparity means that, for many children, schools have lost their values, shifting from places of discovery and connection to institutions contained by expectation and exams.

As the cost of living beds in and the cracks in the country’s education system continue to widen, schools are being stretched to breaking point. With teachers overburdened and students suffering from educational apathy, a major turnaround is needed. Children are affected not only academically but mentally too. Poverty may have entered the classroom, but with more investment and an educational renovation, it does not have to stay there.

Image: Flickr/No 10 Downing Street (Simon Dawson)

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