Socioeconomic status
Issues
Poverty means far more than not having enough to eat. It means that people have limited choices to change their lives, such as where they live, what they can do in their spare time, or what jobs they can find. It means not having the knowledge, skills or confidence to make the best use of civil and social services or to ensure their legal rights.
Poverty means you are more likely to be materially deprived, suffer poor health and long-term despair, or be distressed and socially isolated. The social, economic and educational exclusion associated with poverty is worsened by bullying, harassment and discrimination.
Poverty and educational disadvantage are strongly linked.
Communities speak
"Finding a voice to speak up about bullying and harassment on the basis of poverty can be almost impossible for students at the receiving end. Both bullying and poverty are personally distressing and socially unacceptable."
"We get so much pressure to wear the right brand name clothes. People who can't, they're isolated, criticised for not being like the cool trendies."
"This is about companies affecting community values by manipulating a vulnerable age group's self-doubt and desire to belong. All kids are affected, but it's the students with fewer choices, those from low socioeconomic backgrounds who suffer the most. Our curriculum needs to engage with the issues."
"I believe that education is the key to narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor. There is no doubt that young women who become parents at a young age risk falling into welfare dependency and poverty. They need a good education so they can provide well for their little ones as well as themselves. We should try to do all we can to support these young women."
Challenges
School communities need to:
- challenge behaviours, attitudes and procedures that discriminate, however subtly, against students from low socioeconomic backgrounds
- create learning experiences that respect and build bridges between students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, that strengthen neighbourhood networks and increase civic involvement
- develop understanding of the construction of advantage and disadvantage for different groups, and teach how these power relations are reflected in classroom and community practices
- explicitly teach what is required of students and help them to cope with assumptions built into a curriculum that is designed within the framework of the dominant cultures
- nurture effective school-community partnerships and partnerships with other organisations to enhance social and civic networks and opportunities for each learner.
Resources
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Poverty and education: training and development material
South Australian Department of Education and Children's Services (1994)
Adelaide: Dept. of Education and Children's Services (Curriculum Division)Materials to assist teachers and school teams understand and enhance schooling for preschool to Year 12 students living in poverty. The materials cover common myths and stereotypes, information on the intersection of poverty with issues of gender and race, and teaching and learning practices that include rather than exclude students living in poverty.
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