Sunday 17 April 2011

Banging The ‘Poverty’ Drum Yet Again…

Too many children are turning up at school hungry, poorly dressed and unfit to study because of rising poverty levels, a teaching union warns today.
Really? Tell me, teaching union, does this also happen in Africa or India or South America, where real poverty exists?

Do those teachers wail and gnash their teeth and rend their garments in the national press? Or do they shut up and get on with the job?
In an ATL survey of 627 teachers from primary, secondary, sixth form and further education colleges, almost 80 per cent said they had students living in poverty.

Four in ten thought the recession had made matters worse, and 86 per cent said it was affecting the general well-being of pupils.
So, six out of ten didn’t think the recession made it worse?

And what do these geniuses recommend? Wait, no, don’t tell me, let me guess….
Staff believed one-to-one support was important to help pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds stay in education, along with extending free school meals.
Of course! More of everyone else’s money, and greater employment opportunities for teachers…
The problems are to be raised at ATL's annual conference in Liverpool next week.

Its general secretary Mary Bousted said: 'It is appalling that in 2011 so many children in the UK are severely disadvantaged by their circumstances and fail to achieve their potential.

'The Government should concentrate on tackling the causes of deprivation and barriers to attainment that lock so many young people into a cycle of poverty.'
How about we look at why people who can’t afford to raise children properly keep on having them anyway?

26 comments:

SadButMadLad said...

Using the global warming, sorry climate change method of using statistics it's about 500 pupils out of a population of a few million - this is a disaster of epic proprotions.

Children are entitled to free school meals when the family income is under £16k/yr. Therefore it can be surmised that if they are having free school meals they aren't eating at home - why spend money on food when it's provided free. Therefore they will be turning up at school hungry.

Children are poorly dressed because they don't know how to pull up their trousers, wearing them half way down their bums.

And they are unfit to study because the teachers and headteachers aren't educating the children properly.

Sue said...

I agree with SadButMadLad only I would re-introduce compulsory school uniforms for all schools. The supermarket chains sell them really cheaply. Part of the benefits package could be vouchers instead of cash before terms begin.

I never ate breakfast before I went to school. It was my choice, I still don't like it. My mum nagged me every day about it.

DISCIPLINE! Can't be stressed enough. Kids won't learn if you give them a choice and be their "mates".

Lastly, I hate socialists :)

Gordo said...

"so many children in the UK are severely disadvantaged by their circumstances and fail to achieve their potential"

Absolutely correct, the circumstances are a crap education system and loads of feckless teachers protected by their trade unions.

Angry Exile said...

Damn. Gordo took the words right out of my mouth.

Macheath said...

It all smacks rather of an attempt to keep the goodwill of parents; if you perceive the child to be 'tired and stressed', then it's safer to blame it on material poverty rather than poor parenting - at least if the parent in question is likely to come in and punch you in the face.

A major difference between modern Britain and some of the places you mention is the ready availability of other things on which to spend the limited household income. I get the impression that, for some families, spending on feeding and clothing the children - let alone equipping them for school - is very low priority indeed.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

What Sue said, Julia. I went to boarding school and discipline was hard but fair. I learnt a form of disciple that I could never have learnt at home - hard as my parents were. I also learnt to appreciate the comforts of home and my parents efforts on my behalf to provide a good home - all because of the 'deprivations' suffered at school.

A return to that would not do our education system, nor children any harm!

Captain Haddock said...

I realise that I might be over simplifying things here ..

But why can't Teachers just get on with the job which they're currently being over-paid to do ? ... That's TEACHING

God alone knows, they have more than sufficient problems to resolve within their own profession .. before they go poking their namby-pamby, winky-wanky, frustrated-social-worker beaks into matters which don't concern them ..

Holding back the tide said...

Complete bollocks from the Yoonion. My students turn up:

a) Hungry because, you know, a bag of crisps on the bus in isn't enough, but then they were up all night (sometimes until 4 in the morning) playing some crappo video game and they fall out of bed late so don't have time for a decent breakfast;

b) Poorly dressed simply because the latest fashion trend may be to have your baggy jeans half-way down your arse (like they are so proud of pink n purple underpants) or the hat they stole from their sister looks stupid (yes, I have one like that, and he looks a complete gonk). True if it rains they are ill-prepared but no one who is cool wears anything waterproof. And that includes a condom, as one of my students found out the other day;

c) Unfit to study because, er, they can't be bovvered, m8. What's the point, innit? Anyways, I'm gonna be rich me one day cos I seen Britain's Got Wotsits and if those wankers can make loads a money cos they ain't got no talent then I can too, right? Also sumone will pay me 25k a year to sit round playin' games, know what I mean?

Anonymous said...

With the modern benefits system there is no way children should go hungry.

If they are hjungry its becuase their parents can't be arsed to feed their meal tickets or would rather spend it on their own booze and fags...


But then we always knew there were these scum out there...

Anonymous said...

Captain Haddock you have hit the nail on the head.
.
IF teachers Just taught
.
IF nurses JUST treated the genuinely sick
.
IF police JUST dealt with arresting criminals
.
IF courts JUST dealt with locking people up for criminal acts
.
IF the council JUST emptied the bins and kept the streets clean
.
(and any other public service who work outside of their original remit)
.
...then Social Services could do the job they are paid to do and stop fobbing it off on everyone else. Put responsibility for raising children squarely back where it belongs with the breeders. They can either raise their offspring or lose them.

Anonymous said...

With the modern benefits system there is no way children should go hungry.
.
Spot on.

F***W*T TW****R said...

Bugger the Bint Boustead. It's not the governments responsibility, it's the parents.

Captain Haddock said...

@ Anon 1805 ..

The major flaw in my plan is that when the shit hits the fan, then only the "agency" concerned has to shoulder the blame & take the consequences ..

Which will never do in a Socialist-led society ..

Which is why the country has adopted the "Multi-Agency" approach .. so that when those solids come into contact with the air extractor .. everyone gets a bit .. but no-one gets enough to be sacked .. no single "agency" has to carry the can for its glaring errors or omissions ..

I believe its what's referred to a "stitch-up" .. and we're the ones who've been well and truly "stitched-up" ..

Now .. "When the music stops ...."

Billy the Fish said...

How about asking the parents if they wouldn't mind awfully buying little Beyonce-Jade a uniform and some shoes instead of treating themselves to a fifty-inch plasma out of my fucking money?

Anonymous said...

@Holding Back The Tide

Totally correct regarding time spent playing video games.

I was dating a divorcee for a short while who was always asleep by ten. Her NINE year old - a bright lad but poorly brought up - would continue to play the should be X rated "Grand Theft Auto" until the wee small hours in the bedroom next door.

I would not have liked to teach that bleary lad the next day. And it was every damned night that he did it.

Anonymous said...

Captain Haddock: "The major flaw"
...
You and I don't consider that a flaw...we consider it a requirement. Shame they don't.
...
All it really needs is for one public service department...say the police...to say hang on, we're not clearing up your shit anymore. You do your job and we can get on with ours.
...
I'm constantly amazed that so many working for these services...taxpayers one and all.. implement loony liberal policies little realising it is they who are funding the madness.
...
As with drugs the motto should be...Just Say No !

Tattyfalarr said...

Testing 123...

Tattyfalarr said...

O kewl...I don't have to be anon anymore :)

(OpenID doesn't recognise my wordpress login...boo hiss)

Lorenzo said...

...but what about the "Partnership"

Captain Haddock said...

"All it really needs is for one public service department...say the police...to say hang on, we're not clearing up your shit anymore. You do your job and we can get on with ours" ...

Sadly, its never going to happen, as long as the current mind-set is allowed to prevail ..

There are no prizes for rocking the built-in, self-protection boat, when you still get paid just for going along with the status quo ..

And even fewer prizes when your promotion hinges on actively agreeing with vociferously endorsing every silly new idea which comes along ..

In the case of the Police, the first move would have to be the disbanding & complete obliteration of ACPO ..

And that's about as likely to happen as me ever voting Labour ..

JuliaM said...

"Using the global warming, sorry climate change method of using statistics it's about 500 pupils out of a population of a few million - this is a disaster of epic proprotions."

It's the new maths! ;)

"DISCIPLINE! Can't be stressed enough. Kids won't learn if you give them a choice and be their "mates"."

Indeed! It's depressing that there's still a school of thought in education that believes in it...

"It all smacks rather of an attempt to keep the goodwill of parents..."

Good point.

"A return to that would not do our education system, nor children any harm!"

Just re-teaching deferred gratification would help our finances too!

JuliaM said...

"Complete bollocks from the Yoonion."

I wonder that they ever get anything done, sometimes...

"It's not the governments responsibility, it's the parents."

Spot on!

"Her NINE year old - a bright lad but poorly brought up - would continue to play the should be X rated "Grand Theft Auto" until the wee small hours in the bedroom next door. "

/facepalm

"There are no prizes for rocking the built-in, self-protection boat..."

Indeed! And despite the 'whistleblower protection' law, there are a hell of a lot of disadvantages.

Angry Exile said...

Just re-teaching deferred gratification would help our finances too!

That's a bit optimistic, Julia. I'd suggest starting with something more basic, like English to a better standard than asylum seekers. Most of graduates of British state education probably think deferred is what happens when you shave the dog.

Si said...

I earn far less than £16k, and my daughter is entitled to free school meals.

She doesn't get them though, because she goes to a private school that I pay for with the money I don't spend on myself. She does however get fed properly, three good varied meals a day.

I don't get housing benefit either, so I have to pay for housing us out of post-tax income too, along with council tax, electricity and water.

"Poverty" in this country is mainly an artificial construct based on "I can't be arsed to do it myself"

Intruder said...

"DISCIPLINE! Can't be stressed enough. Kids won't learn if you give them a choice and be their "mates"."

No - it's the opposite to this.

Give children a choice, let them suffer the consequences or reap the benefits.

You get adults that assess risk and think for themselves instead of ones who defer to authority.

JuliaM said...

"Most of graduates of British state education probably think deferred is what happens when you shave the dog."

Heh!

""Poverty" in this country is mainly an artificial construct based on "I can't be arsed to do it myself""

Couldn't agree more.

"You get adults that assess risk and think for themselves instead of ones who defer to authority."

Precisely what governments seem not to want..?