21st November 2007

Email this Page |

Children from some of the most disadvantaged schools in Northern Ireland face a diminished educational experience, according to University of Ulster research.  

The study, which was part of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Education and Poverty Programme, and co-funded by Save the Children NI, involved over 200 children, between the ages of five and 11, in some of the poorest and most advantaged primary schools across the region.  

The findings clearly show that most children’s experience of school is determined by the level of disadvantage they face. Poorer children accept from a young age that their social position will be reflected in their experience of school and they are not going to get the same quality of schooling, or of outcomes, as children who are better off. 

Report author Goretti Horgan, from the University of Ulster’s School of Policy Studies, said: “Poorer children accept that their social position will be reflected in their experience of school and they are not going to get the same quality of schooling, or of outcomes, as better off children.” 

Children and parents identified the main costs of school as uniform, including shoes, lunches and school trips.  

“Children in the disadvantaged schools were very aware of all the costs associated with school and of the difficulties some parents face in finding as little as 50p or a pound for school events,” Ms Horgan said. 

Donald Hirsch from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation added that the range of research studies carried out under the JRF Education and Poverty Programme have show that: “Social background influences the way children feel about school from an early age. At primary school, children in poverty are more likely to have negative experiences and feel “got at” by teachers.  

“This doesn’t necessarily mean teachers are prejudiced, but that low- income children find themselves in schools where the pressures are greater, and this reinforces prior disadvantages,” he said. 

The research also found that these negative experiences can lead boys as young as nine or ten in disadvantaged schools to start to disengage from school.  

“A positive finding from the research however shows that all children believed education to be important. In advantaged schools, children saw education as a way of ensuring a good life as an adult, whereas children in disadvantaged schools were more likely to view education as a way of avoiding problems in the future,” added Ms Horgan. 

Alex Tennant, Head of Policy and Research at Save the Children, said: “This research indicates that there are still major inequalities in education for our children. Improving educational experience and outcomes is vital to achieving the goal of eradicating child poverty by 2020, but children growing up in poverty are still experiencing educational disadvantage. Children from low income families in the research understood the real cost of going to school and the struggles their families faced. It is clear from the research that poverty impacts considerably on children’s experiences of primary schooling.” 

The Impact of Poverty on Children’s Experience of School is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and can be downloaded at: www.jrf.org.uk

For further information, please contact:

Trina Porter
Telephone: 028 71675511
Email: Trina Porter