Material Deprivations Effect On Education

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Material Deprivation Background

  • The term material deprivation refers to poverty, lack of materials, inadequate housing and income.
  • Poverty is linked closely to educational underachievement, for example:
  • According to the DoE in 2012 small percentage of children who receive FSM achieve 5 or more GCSEs at A*-C including English and Maths.
  • According to Flaherty (2004), money issues are a big factor in younger children's nonattendance at school.
  • Exclusions and truancy are more likely to occur in children from poorer families. Children excluded from school are unlikely to return to education, while most persistent truants leave school with no qualifications.
  • Nearly 90% of failing schools are located in deprived areas.
  • There is a close link between material deprivation, poverty, and social class as the w/c are more likely to have lower incomes and be in poverty.
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Housing

  • Poor housing can have a major effect on children's educational achievement directly and indirectly in the following ways:
  • Overcrowding means less room for educational activities, no room to work, disturbed sleep from sharing rooms, beds etc.
  • For young children, limited space to play and explore in homes can impair their development. Families that are in temporary housing or hotels may find themselves moving around a lot schoolwise disrupting children's education.
  • Poor housing can also have an effect on children's health as they are at greater risk of accidents as well suffering from cold and damp related illnesses. Families in temporary accommodation also may suffer more psychological distress, infections, and accidents.
  • All these potential health issues mean more absences from school.
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Diet and Health

  • Howard (2001) - noted that young people from poorer homes have a lower intake of energy, vitamins, and minerals. As poor nutrition affects health in terms of things like the immune system and lowers their energy levels, this may result in more illness and therefore more absences.
  • Children from poorer households are more likely to have emotional, psychological and behavioral issues, Wilkinson (1996) found among 10-year-olds the lower the social class the higher the rate of hyperactivity, anxiety and conduct disorders all are likely to have a negative effect on a child's education.
  • Blanden and Machin (2007) found that children from low-income families were likely to engage in 'externalize' their feelings such as throwing tantrums or outlasting, this is likely to disrupt their schooling.
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Financial Support and The Cost of Education

  • In poorer households, lack of financial support can mean missing out on having the correct equipment and other educational activities and experiences that would enhance their education.
  • Bull (1980) referred to this as the cost of free schooling and a study in the Oxford area done by Tanner et al. (2003) found the cost of uniform, maths, sports, and music equipment all place a heavy burden on lower-income households and as a result they may have to cope with hand me downs, which can result in being alienated by their peers as having fashionable clothing can be important to some children's self-esteem. 
  • Flaherty also found 20% of students entitled to FSM did not take them for the same reason that they did not want to be alienated by their peers.
  • Smith and Noble (1995) found that poverty is a barrier to learning in ways such as not being able to afford better private schools and having to go to poorer quality public schools.
  • Lack of money also can mean children have to work to add money to the household income, Ridge found that this had a negative impact on their school work.
  • Support to students through EMA's was abolished in 2011 by the coalition government.
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Fear of Debt

  • Going to university is now expensive with fees reaching £9,000 a year and so usually involves students getting into debt, attitudes towards debt, in general, may be a deterrent to w/c students who fear the debt may consume them yo going to university.
  • Looking at a nationwide survey of 2,000 students Callender and Jackson found that w/c students were more likely to be debt adversely and saw it as something to be avoided and saw fewer benefits than costs to going to Universtiy. In all, they found attitude is a big factor in deciding whether or not to go to university. They found debt the most debt adverse students (usually w/c) were 5 times more likely to not go to university than those the most debt tolerant (usually m/c).
  • Increased tuition fees in 2012 may deter even more w/c students, UCAS found in 2012 the number of applicants fell by 8.6% compared with the year before. 
  • Furthermore, the w/c students who do go to uni are less likely to receive financial support from their families. A National Union of Students (2010) online survey of 3,863 students found that 81% of those from the highest social classes received help from home as against only 43% of lower classes. Fear of debt and limited financial support explain why only 30% of the university population come from w/c background despite making up 50% of the population
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Fear of Debt Cont.

  • Reay (2005) found w/c students that did go to university choose to go to local universities so they could live at home and cut down on costs, this shows how w/c students can be restricted in their choice of universities and subject ways by lack of money.
  • Dropout rates are also higher in the w/c students, at the London Metropolitan University well known for a large w/c student intake, had a dropout rate of 16.6% compared to 1.5% in Oxford where there is a large intake of students from private schools.
  • The National Audit Office (2002) found w/c students spent twice as much time in paid work than m/c students do.
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Cultural or Material Factors

  • While material factors do play a big part in the achievement but the fact, not all w/c students fail it is clear it is only down to material deprivation.
  • For example, other factors like political, cultural and religious values may also play a part in children's motivations and their success. 
  • Feinstein showed that parents education also has a big contribution to their achievement regardless of income.
  • Mortimore and Whitty (1997) argue that material factors have the biggest effect on success for this reason Robinson (1997) argues that tackling child poverty would be the best way to increase w/c achievement.
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