Education Topic 7 - Material factors and deprivation as a cause of under-attainment

Leonard Feinstein, material poverty and deprivation

• In 2013, Feinstein analysed data from the 1970 Birth Cohort Study

• He found test scores at 22 months predicted educational attainment at 26 years and were related to family backgrounds

• Children from poor backgrounds who achieved well at 22 months were often overtaken by poor attainers from wealthy backgrounds

Material deprivation: Material deprivation can be defined as the inability to afford basic resources and services such as sufficient food and heating

Which children are likely to experience material deprivation?

• Those whose families are in debt

• Some ethnic minorities

• Children from benefit-dependent families such as the disabled

• Children from lone parent families

• Workless households

• Those living in London and the South of England

• Large families with many children

• Family breakdown and instability

• Poor levels of parental education and skills

• Children in former industrial areas such as the South Wales valleys

Poverty and Policy

• Government data shows a clear link between childhood and adult poverty

• People find is difficult to escape from the effects of poverty in their childhood lives

• The link between educational qualifications and earnings is not up for debate

• Whilst some people do well without a formal education, this is very rare

• The largest single predictor of adult poverty is the educational qualification level of the father

• The ONS (office of national statistics) suggests that children have a 7.5 higher chance of poor educational attainment if their fathers did badly in school

• For most people, the best route…