Chapter 1 - Introduction
Written by Michelle Skellern
Technical issues could not suppress the obvious desire within the group to understand poverty and to tussle with the issues that effect so many of the young people we teach in school across the Northern Alliance.
Practitioners from across the Northern Alliance joined us as we discussed the preface and the introduction of this book – it was interesting to hear why people had joined and what they hoped to get out of the sessions. The recurring thread was that people were excited to explore the book together, wanted the structure and accountability of a regular meeting and were keen to be educated around the subject of Childhood Poverty in Scotland.
Morag starts her book by encouraging us to “flip our thinking” on child poverty - to be discerning and thoughtful and to not be enticed into believing fake news or the social media portraits of poverty but to join her in a journey of exploration – to keep the child at the centre and have open and enquiring minds as we read. Blame cannot be apportioned to the family; judgments cannot be made. The facts of poverty are that the household does not have enough money and there are huge risks associated with this.
As an author, Morag is uniquely qualified through lived experience to write about childhood poverty and her desire to communicate this is clear in the preface where she gives us a quick overview of her early years and her experiences as a young person growing up in poverty.
There are many ways to class a family as “living in poverty” – the generally agreed threshold is that of a household’s income being less than 60% of the medium income and this is what the book will focus on.
Setting the scene in the introduction, she highlights the fact that children are very aware of their family situation and often have to take on adult roles because of the needs within their family.
She speaks of the lack of power the child has in the situation and the fact that, even if the family is in poverty for a short time, this is actually a relatively long period over the course of a childhood.
Morag states that, even in periods of austerity or recession, child poverty in not inevitable and she helpfully discusses some of the decisions that government takes which result in poverty for families.
Child poverty is caused by a complex blend of structural and personal factors:
Economic factors such as the state of the economy, job market, housing market etc combine with social factors (gender, disability, lone parenthood, race/ethnicity) to increase the likely hood of a household experiencing poverty.
The proceeding chapters dive deep into these factors and the book group are keen to see how they link and how, as our understanding increases, we can make practical interventions to help our young people.
For next week's preparatory task the group are being asked to read Chapter 2 - Context and reflect on;
“A misconception I hold / have previously held about poverty in the UK is…..”
Chapter 2 - Context
Written by Eileen MacLeod
This session based on Chapter 2 of Child Poverty - Aspiring to Survive by Morag Treanor challenged us to look at the context of child poverty and what our misconceptions around it could be. This chapter has a focus on the risks, causes and consequences of child poverty; the misunderstandings between these and then the effects of these misunderstandings have on governmental policy etc.
Firstly, it was interesting to read and consider the impact of families with only one full-time working parent. There is an assumption that poverty is linked to unemployment however now due to low wages and the impact of zero-hour contracts, many families with one working parent are now living in poverty within the UK. Another misconception was that the UK government provided protective legislation for young people, however the impact of changes to the supports embedded within the UK in the 2000s had not been fully recognised. It was a shock to see how negatively the UK compared to other European countries. When the data is right there in front of you in print you must face up to it. So already Child Poverty - Aspiring to Survive demands that we reflect on how child poverty can increase in affluent countries such as the UK? What can be done about it? What can WE do about it? These are questions we hope to answer as we continue to read and discuss Treanor’s book.
In considering the impact of poverty on families in our schools and nurseries, most of us had seen the physical issues associated with living in poverty for example the lack of weather-appropriate clothing and tired or unclean school uniforms. This was seen to lead to other issues for the child such as becoming ostracised from their peers and the development of shame and embarrassment over appearance. This was also linked to poor attendance and hunger. There was a discussion around the lack of dignity and how many families would actively hide the reality of their situation. It was also stated in the book that young people are aware from a very early age of their family’s poverty situation. It was interesting to highlight just how much income was dedicated to housing, and for those working parents in low-income households that was a substantial amount, which meant disposable income available for other bills, food, clothing and activities was greatly reduced. This highlights that continually reviewing the cost of the school day is essential in order for these young people to thrive and be included.
The impact of poverty on participation was highlighted; the cost of taking part in hobbies or school trips could be prohibitive for many families. Something as simple as contributing to a bake sale can single a young person out from their peers as experiencing poverty. Whilst some young people are oblivious to the financial situations of their families, and parents protect them from this reality, for others this was abundantly clear, and this presents in some young people as an ‘opting out’ measure.
Our own reflections on growing up in poverty brought richness to the discussion. The fluidity of poverty was shown in stark relief to our current achievements as leaders and reflective thinkers in education. A glimmer of hope that perhaps our experiences may shape us, but they do not define us. We should also consider where a young person comes in their family order. There will often be additional responsibilities placed on the eldest sibling for childcare to allow their parent or carer to work to generate an income. How do we remove the barriers that this presents?
This chapter introduces the term “dynamic poverty” which helps to reframe our thinking. Poverty for many is not a fixed situation. Families will be moving in and out of poverty due to situations both within and outside of their control. The support we give must therefore also be dynamic and non-judgemental.
For next week's preparatory task the group are being asked to read Chapter 3 - Family and reflect on;
“I have had experience of/am aware of familial experiences of poverty, this presented itself in school/in my life as….”
Chapter 3 - Family
Written by Chris O'Neill
Following a three week pause covering the various mid-term breaks taken by local authorities across Scotland and taking account of industrial action by the teaching unions, the CLPL book group reconvened on 7th March to delve into Chapter 3, which focussed on Family.
Morag Treanor offers us a straightforward definition of family; people who are together for the intention of bringing up children. Treanor works hard at getting the reader to challenge our misconceptions about what family is or should be. She warns us that too often the narrative around families works on an assumption that “good families” are those who are self-sufficient, who look after children independently, and with minimal state involvement. She warns us that families facing economic disadvantage are often pathologised by western societies. Indeed, she argues, families facing hardship are often explicitly named as the cause of the problems they face.
Delving into this Treanor warns us that societies in the West, and she focusses on the UK in particular, blame inadequate parenting as the source of serious social ills, deprivation, crime, and anti-social behaviour.
Over the last decade or so, the narrative from central Government and, in particular, the mainstream print media, is to look at ways of tackling disadvantage through the lens of middle-class values. Poor families are negatively compared to their middle-class counterparts. Tensions arise because comparisons are made between those believed to be trying and those the media portray as lazy. Low-income families, she argues, are forced to feel shame.
Treanor argues we need to challenge our thinking. She points out that in the UK two thirds of children classified as living in poverty live with or in a family where someone is working.
The group welcomed Treanor’s focus on the concept she introduces us to: The Cycle of Advantage. Too often, negative stereotypes focus on a so-called Cycle of Deprivation. But Treanor has already confirmed for us that poverty and disadvantage are transitory. Those in poverty this year may not have been so last year. And those facing poverty now may not have experienced it before. To see poverty through the concept of a Cycle of Advantage is more helpful. Wealthier, middle-class families consolidate their advantages and ensure the reproduction of privilege through successive generations. Additionally, Treanor argues, working-class mothers are not able to be as effective as middle-class mothers who have far greater material and cultural resources to draw on, particularly in terms of supporting education.
Within families affected by poverty, children are too acutely aware of the impact of poverty on their own situation. They perceive a societal stigma, sometimes shame, and see blame attributed to their families for the effects of poverty. Consequently, children protect their parents by denying or limiting their own needs and aspirations. Children in these circumstances have “learned” not to ask for money or to demand things they need for school. To make matters worse, these children self-exclude from social and leisure activities.
The group were particularly focussed on these issues and it was particularly pertinent to hear from Sara Spencer & Kirsty Campbell from the Child Poverty Action Group at the start of our discussions this week. CPAG has been campaigning on Child Poverty for over 20 years, but Sara highlighted the current significant cost of living crisis and how this had focussed minds on issues around poverty in a way we perhaps had not seen before. Sara only needed to highlight recent newspaper headlines around this crisis, particularly to do with issues around fuel poverty at the current time, for us to realise that discussions around poverty were currently mainstream, but there was nevertheless a danger that the issues raised were becoming normalised.
Sara then focused our minds on the cost of the school day and highlighted some practices taking places across many of our schools - e.g. affordable uniforms, school-year cost calculators, breakfast clubs, no-cost to pupil/family ICT devices etc. Sara shared a useful presentation of ideas, and invited members of the group to consider enrolling their school / young people in the Cost of the School Day Children and Young People's Network.
Early on in our discussion on these matters, we raised the subject of school trips and highlighted our own prejudices in talking about trips, travel and holidays, sometimes forgetting that children growing up in poverty have not travelled very far. Their experience of the world is significantly less than we often take for granted and the group acknowledge that we need to be more mindful of this. We also focussed on the participation and affordability of school trips for children living in poverty. The group were keen to explore how school trips and visits were accessible to all. While acknowledging that the Scottish Government have made it a requirement that young people accessing curricular trips should not have to pay, this is not uniform across our schools. Discussion in the group focussed on the need to ensure that certain places on school trips needed to be reserved for children living in poverty, and that as yet, there seems to be no straightforward mechanism for ensuring that this is the case in our schools.
Indeed, when it came to fundraising for school trips, whether it be bag-packing or sponsored coffee-mornings, it was highlighted in the group that in one of our schools, middle-class parents sought for their children not to have to take part in such activities, as the parents were just going to pay anyway. There is much work to be done in ensuring school trips and visits, whether curricular or extracurricular become equally accessible to all.
Treanor concludes the chapter on Family, by asking us to flip our thinking on those people raising children. She asks that instead of castigating children living in poverty for what they do not manage to do or achieve, we should instead be admiring and commending what families are able to achieve with such few resources and admire what children manage to do through the promotion of dignity and respect.
For next week's preparatory task the group are being asked to read Chapter 4 - Lone Parenthood and reflect on;
The text thus far, source and bring a newspaper, or online article to the team that jars with your thinking about poverty
Having read the chapter, create and bring a question to discuss with the team.
Chapter 4 - Lone Parenthood
Written by Frances Sinclair
Chapter 4 of Child Poverty, Aspiring to Survive focusses on Lone Parenthood. Morag begins the chapter by saying “few subjects in relation to childhood poverty excite the public and political imagination quite as much as the issue of “family breakdown”. As we had been tasked with finding a story or article which “jars with our thinking” about poverty, it was perhaps no coincidence that some of us had googled tabloid newspaper stories, with their excitable headlines such as “Something for Nothing Britain” and “Mother of 12 Benefits Scrounger wants more. ”
On the topic of stereotyping the poor, and lone mothers in particular, one participant in the group commented on the fact that people living in poverty endure a disproportionate amount of “scrutiny” on their spending habits. This was illustrated by other participants offering anecdotes of low income families being judged by others, for example, how much takeaway food they eat. For me, these anecdotes perfectly illustrate Morag’s point about “political and media discourses seeing lone parenthood as the cause of poverty”. The implication here is that if lone parents (mothers) weren’t so feckless as to “waste” money on Happy Meals, they wouldn’t be so poor. Yet, as another participant observed, it is wealthy parents who are much more likely to be wasteful of resources, and they don’t get nearly as much scrutiny on their own spending habits. It was also pointed out by another participant that buying five Happy Meals potentially costs less than shopping for and cooking a meal from scratch for a large family.
In my own experience, I have seen designer trainers and jackets worth hundreds of pounds being left in the Lost Property, while young people who live in poverty go about school in threadbare t-shirts. In a previous chapter, Morag had talked about the “cycle of advantage” of well off parents perpetuating their privilege down through the generations. The sense of wasted resources by the well off in our throwaway culture depresses me. Yet on page 64, Morag talks about how “lone mothers and their children are aware that they (my italics) are looked down upon”. In a happy footnote, however, a Clothing Bank has recently been set up in my school, with the Lost Property items, previously destined for the skip, now freshly laundered and available to all. I have personally seen the wellbeing and self esteem of young people I work with dramatically improving as a direct result of being well turned out in smart, freshly laundered, albeit secondhand clothing. Perhaps if well off parents actively donated items to the Clothing Bank rather than asking no questions when their child returns home missing an expensive designer jacket, this would be one way of “breaking the cycle of advantage” of the wealthy ?
On page 59, to further back up her point that Childhood Poverty cannot be blamed solely on parental spending habits, Morag tells us that, rather than lone parents (mothers) being the architects of their own misfortune, it is in fact “the way that the labour market, taxes and benefits operate that increase the likelihood of poverty”. By referencing the 2016 study which proves this hypothesis, Morag continues to “flip our thinking” about the causes of Child Poverty. We may even (possibly?) be guilty ourselves of raising the odd eyebrow at, for example, the addition of a pet in a family whose children use the Breakfast Club, but Morag challenges us to interrogate these beliefs and attitudes. She says, for example, on page 60, that “poverty is not an inevitable outcome of lone parenthood, it very much depends on the type of policies put in place to support them, for example, support with childcare.”
The issue of childcare was brought up when the groups came back together. In this chapter, Morag had described for us a Case Study she did of “Jennifer” who was forced to leave a job she loved because she could not be offered flexible working. This put Jennifer (a lone mother) in the invidious position of leaving full-time work to claim benefits in order to look after her three children. Many of the group knew of women facing the same dilemma, yet Morag tells us that child wellbeing in lone parent families is at its highest when the lone parent (mother) is working full-time. This led to some passionate contributions to the discussion, with much metaphorical hand wringing at various bugbears such as “misogyny in our society”; “the right wing media peddling stereotypes” and the policies of the current Tory government lowering rather than raising the aspirations of the poor.
Having aired some of our pet grievances, I was left with the feeling that, although the passion and desire for change is strong within the group, we “preach to the converted” each week. Having said that, however, I do feel that, by coming together to read and discuss this important book, we succeed in raising our awareness of the issues surrounding Child Poverty; and each week we come a bit closer to understanding the complex interplay of factors which give rise to Child Poverty.
I feel that the greatest strength of Morag’s book is that it is meticulously researched. The way she backs up her arguments by referring to peer reviewed research papers lends the book an authority and authenticity. By continually driving home her point that the issue of Child Poverty is far more nuanced and complex than would at first appear, Morag allows us to look beyond the tabloid headlines. Her well constructed arguments may even give me the confidence one day to find a riposte the next time a colleague makes reference to the spending habits of a parent contending with the very real issue of the effects of poverty on their children’s wellbeing.
For next week's preparatory task the group are being asked to read Chapter 5 - Education and reflect on;
Find a national / local authority / policy / guidance / resource which has poverty at its centre. Who is the policy for? What is the message? Would you change any of the language and why?
Having read the chapter, create and bring a question to discuss with the team.
Chapter 5 - Education
Written / Illustrated by Derek Sawyer
This week’s discussion was based on Chapter 5 - Education, our key reflections have been illustrated through the sketchnote below.
From the rich discussions which have taken place each week we agree as a group that this book should be read by every educator and form part of initial teacher training, at the heart of this training must be dignity & respect for children & young people and their families.
This chapter considers the essential part education plays in children’s lives and as a result, the potential education has to support a way out of poverty for low-income families which has not yet been met. Education is quite simply a vehicle out of poverty.
We had the pleasure of welcoming James Cook, Head Teacher of Cawdor Primary in the Highlands. James has previously engaged in Morag’s Child Poverty Aspiring to Survive in role as co-founder of Scottish Educators Connect, therefore has a wealth of knowledge to share. James spoke passionately regarding the work he has led around emerging literacy, raising awareness of poverty with his practitioners and families – conveying a message of universal support.
For next week's preparatory task the group are being asked to read Chapter 6 - In & Out of Work and reflect on;
Small Test of Change - Using the SPRINT Clarify Canvas, consider your own setting, what activity / project could you engage others in to tackle child poverty.
Flip our thinking: ‘what can I do to show the children living in poverty that I value them in my classroom?’
Chapter 6 - In & Out of Work
Written by David Downham
Chapter 6 of Child Poverty, Aspiring to Survive focusses on, In & Out of Work. This week we were tasked to flip our thinking: ‘what can I do to show the children living in poverty that I value them in my classroom?’ The group was asked Simon Breakspear’s SPRINT Clarify Canvas, and consider our own settings, what activity / project we could engage others in to tackle child poverty, this was the starter for this session’s discussions.
Throughout this professional enquiry journey, as a group, we have had a clear understanding that poverty is not static and is changeable according to shifting circumstances which children and their families endure every day. We have been saddened to read that today many individuals can be both working and yet find themselves in poverty.
There were deep discussions as there has been every week on the topic of negative attitudes and stigma, the shaming directed at families who claim benefits to support their household. Directly linked to this was the confusion and accessibility or lack of when discussing policies, there is a need to ensure that policies are written with children & young people and their families at the centre.
This chapter, In and Out of Work highlighted the significant impact of unemployment on parental mental health as well as the levels of in-work poverty for parents on minimum wage or zero hours contracts. There have been several discussions regarding the narrative portrayed by the media towards ‘the unemployed’ and the ‘assumption that employment is always advantageous to child poverty’. There were also discussions around the governments need to support larger families, particularly those where there are more than two children and how benefits have been reduced. What does this say about our society? Is having a larger family now a privilege for the few?
Morag Treanor further suggests that being unemployed is better for your mental health than being unemployed in poor work. This highlights the need to ensure fair working conditions, fair pay, and the promotion of wellbeing within the workplace. Discussions also included concerns with policies and the impact of zero hours contracts and the benefits system on families. For many families there is difficulties in understand what they are entitled to as well confusion with application processes, add to this the negativity and shame surrounding this process.
How do we as educators and professionals who work daily with children & young people, support by teaching them and their families the skills that will be needed for the jobs of the future. Whatever we do, we must ensure that when working in partnership with our children & young people and their families we have dignity and respect at the heart of what we do.
For next week's preparatory task, the group are being asked to read Chapter 7 - Health and reflect on;
Find a government policy from the last decade which perpetuates the instability of income. Consider the following:
Why was the policy implemented? Why does/doesn’t it work for families? What could work instead?
Chapter 7 - Health
Written by Carrie Yavuz
This session based on Chapter 7 of Child Poverty - Aspiring to Survive (Health). This week the group had the pleasure of welcoming Amy Bruce, My Tribe Project Lead – Period Products from Argyll & Bute Council.
Amy shared the sector leading work Argyll & Bute is delivering around period dignity and period products. Amy also shared information regarding The Bill for the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act 2021 of the Scottish Parliament was passed by the Parliament on 24th November 2020 and received Royal Assent on 12th January 2021, and became law in August 2022.
Further Data
137,000 girls in the UK missed school last year because they can’t afford sanitary products.
Over 50% of girls in the UK said they couldn’t afford menstrual products at some point in the past year.
6% of parents said they had been so desperate to equip their daughters with menstrual products that they have resorted to stealing.
The chapter highlights that in the UK, 40 per cent of households with children cannot afford an acceptable standard of living sufficient to support good health. Chapter 7 focuses on the mental health impacts on both parents and children. Evidence shared by Morag Treanor suggests that the impact of poor mental health of a parent is long-lasting. It was also noted that cognitive development in children is impacted by poverty, and that the more persistent the poverty, the more significant the impact.
1 in 5 children living in poverty have mental health issues – this is 2 – 3 times more than those from affluent backgrounds.
As educators we could relate to poor mental health in children often leading to absence from school. If children and young people do not feel well then, they simply do not learn well, this in turn leads to poor educational attainment, often leading to limited socioeconomic success through poor outcomes in future employment. The group agreed that financial pressures lead to anxiety which causes poor mental health issues within families. Low income is also often associated with other stressors such as poor housing, long hours / multiple jobs and relationships within the family are often under strain due to these financial and environmental pressures.
Often parents living in poverty do not seek out mental health support as they are worried that they will lose access to their children.
A key feature of the larger group discussion was the impact that transport issues can have on accessing healthcare which is important to supporting mental health. This then led the group to discuss the impact of the ‘Did not attend’ – two strikes and you are off the waiting list health policy.
For next week's preparatory tasks, the group are being asked to read Chapter 8 Ethnicity & Disability and Chapter 9 Adversity & Poverty reflecting on;
Source a recent news/journal article or policy which shows insidious discrimination (poverty related) towards people of colour/people with a disability
In what way is it discriminatory? How is language used to perpetuate the prejudice? How can this be tackled in your setting?
Chapters 8 Ethnicity & Disability & 9 Adversity & Poverty
Written by Lorna Harvey
For the discussions of chapters 8 & 9 the group welcomed two practitioners who attend the book group weekly; Bernadette Cairns (Principal Educational Psychologist, Highland) and Lorna Harvey (Attainment Advisor, Education Scotland). Bernadette discussed chapter 8 (Ethnicity & Disability), sharing the importance of language linked directly to discrimination. Bernadette linked these discussions to the work she has been involved with Highland, in particular through the Lifestyle Survey which many children & young people take part in.
It was clear from Bernadette's discussions that we need to do more to offer training and support for colleagues in relation to poverty, children’s rights, ACE, equality and diversity, the promise etc. As well as asking children and families what might help – use data you have on your own pupils
At the beginning of chapter 8, Morag cites the following quote from (Tackey et al, 2011) - “The three characteristics that affect educational experiences and attainment most are ethnicity, socioeconomic status and gender.”
Therefore, it is important that these characteristics are understood by all delivering and supporting educational experiences. For me, as an Attainment Advisor working as part of the wider Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) Team, the importance of effective partnership working to close the poverty related attainment gap cannot be underestimated. The mission of SAC is to “use education to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty, with a focus on tackling the poverty-related attainment gap.” There is clear recognition within the policy that Education cannot do this alone-
“The mission of the SAC is one that must be supported by collective agency - the range of services, third sector organisations and community partners working together with families, with a clear focus on improving the educational experiences, health and wellbeing and outcomes of children and young people.”
Framework for Recovery and Progress, 2022
Effective partnership working is underpinned by mutual respect and trust and an understanding of the role of different sectors and agencies in supporting our learners. Who is best placed to support the individual and collective needs of the children and young people in our schools? How can we work together to identify needs and plan packages of support, interventions or approaches to best support our learners to make progress in relation to both attainment and achievement?
Morag’s research highlights stark data sets and statistics concerning the educational attainment of a range of groups, including ethnicity, disability, young carers, looked after children, refugee and asylum-seeking children. Within these groups are included a range of characteristics and the importance of really knowing individuals and groups is of utmost importance.
Often, during Book Group discussions, relationships are highlighted as being crucial in supporting the range of needs our children and young people require (and deserve) support with. Building positive relationships with individual learners is so important but we also need to consider our relationships with the wider family and indeed the community. Are we informed of our local context in relation to demographics and the range of services available within the local community? In what ways can we work collaboratively to collectively understand and support families. Examples include language barriers (or perceived barriers?) to engaging with parents/carers, understanding and respect of different cultures and accessibility issues.
Practitioners in educational settings have access to information about learners and their families and daily contact (during term time) and therefore developing an understanding of specific family circumstances is possible. However, we should also consider and seek out those other professionals who may have different knowledge and specialist training and who can support schools/settings with supporting needs.
Throughout Child Poverty, the concept of flipping our thinking is included within each chapter. This can go a long way in supporting our learners who are impacted by poverty, alongside other adversities and challenges.
YouthLink Scotland recently consulted with young people across the country and one of the things they said they needed from formal education was to “feel safe, respected, supported and included by the people who support our learning.” It’s important that partners and other sectors, for example, CLD, Housing, Health do this collectively and always with compassion and respect. It can be challenging to truly understand the specific needs of people with characteristics that we do not share but we must learn to understand and respect the differences which make up our wonderful communities.
In my experiences, really listening to and developing positive relationships is the most important thing we can do to support children and young people and their families. Engaging with those with “lived experience” really helps us to develop our own understanding. Conscious and unconscious bias can sometimes get in the way of this! We all have them and have a duty to address this in order to provide the support and care all of our children and young people deserve. In big ways and small ways OUR WORK CHANGES LIVES. I wear a little badge to work everyday with these words on it and this reminds me of the importance of our work in Education and, of course, in partnership with others. Data and research inform and guide our work but it is people who make the difference for people.
“Tough times never last, but tough people do.”
Dr. Robert Schuller
I saw this quote recently and it made me reflect on the current climate of increasing poverty (and increasing types of poverty!) but policy landscapes change, our planet continues to spin and at the end of the day it is people who make the difference. The word tough has many connotations and not all positive! For me, in the context of this quote, “tough people” are strong willed, well informed, resilient, interested and compassionate listeners and lifelong learners. How tough are you?
For next week's preparatory tasks, the group are being asked to read Chapter 10 Conclusions reflecting on;
How do you plan to apply the learning from Child Poverty, Aspiring to Survive (example)
Ask Morag. Please think of a question(s) for Morag based on your reflections from your reading
Chapter 10 - Conclusions
Written by Derek Sawyer, Michelle Skellern & David Downham
Summarising the rich discussions and deep learning journey which has taken place these past ten weeks in one blog is near impossible. Morag Treanor’s book Child Poverty Aspiring to Survive has inspired our group, it has challenged our knowledge and perceptions of what poverty is and demanded that we challenge others.
From the Introduction chapter to the Conclusions chapter Morag as encouraged us to ‘flip our thinking’, our group agreed that professionals working with children and their families in poverty need to do this to better understand the multiple issues they face. Collectively we agree that all practitioners should read this book and learn from it!
Almost one in four (250,000) of Scotland’s children are officially recognised as living in poverty (Scottish Government)
69% of children in poverty live in working households (Scottish Government)
We agree that these figures are shocking! It seems much of what we see and read about poverty is influenced by the media as we continue to read headlines describing workshy scroungers, and families in which generations are kept by the state.
Now that we have this knowledge and understanding what do we do? How do we as educators break down barriers to wellbeing & learning?
We agree that this is the start of our journey, this career long professional learning has been invaluable. It has allowed us to come together every week and share our thoughts / reflections in a safe space, we have also been asked to engage in tasks out with the reading of this book which has further developed our knowledge and understanding of poverty.
We need poverty to be at the top of the agenda and we need to make this happen by sharing our experiences and knowledge of Child Poverty, Aspiring to Survive and by sharing our learning from this CLPL opportunity. Perhaps when the UNCRC is implemented into Scottish law we will be legally bound to ensure the rights, and the basic needs, of all our children are met however until then we need to impart our knowledge and challenge the norm. We need to ensure that when interacting with children, young people, and their families we do this with dignity and respect.
As part of our self-evaluation for self-improvement practitioners who took part in the book group were asked How do you expect this professional learning to impact upon your practice?
‘Hugely increased my understanding of issues around poverty, and this will impact significantly on my dialogue with staff and my ability to garner empathy from them for pupil's individual circumstances.’
‘This professional learning will have a significant impact on my practice, I have increased my knowledge and confidence regarding poverty and its potential impact on young people and families and this will allow me to plan interventions and support in a more effective manner. It has also given me the confidence to consider how to plan pupil led initiatives and to develop capacity in staff around this area.’
‘It helps cascade that fundamental understanding of what our children and young people as well as families are going through each year and how we need to be providing appropriate supports and guidance across all settings.’
We were honoured to welcome Morag to our last book group session where she shared current projects she is working on as well as giving her time to answer questions. Thank you Morag.
Message from Morag Treanor
It was a real privilege to join the CLPL Book Group facilitated by colleagues from the Equality Investments Workstream at the Northern Alliance where they explored my book, Child Poverty: Aspiring to Survive.
We had a great session where practitioners reflected on their practice and commented on what in the book had chimed with them. I was struck by everyone’s desire for this type of professional learning and their plans to put the learning into practice.
The importance of regional improvement collaborative working was evident, bringing together such a dedicated, committed group of educators from across the north and I was really honoured to spend time with them. I am looking forward to following this journey, and seeing how the Northern Alliance share this learning with practitioners across the country.
If you are interested in engaging in future Book Groups based on professional enquiry please email derek.sawyer@highland.gov.uk