Progress on poverty - but there’s a long way to go

Child poverty in Scotland is an issue so politicised that it can be hard to discern fact from hyperbole.

Ministers insist they are doing something about it and point to figures and ambitious-sounding initiatives that back up that claim. At the same time, their opponents castigate them for fecklessness and “right-wing” policies, which they say allow poverty to fester.

And educators become the collateral damage: as is so often the case, they feel as though they are supposed to provide a catch-all cure for society’s ills. It’s certainly an age-old tactic among politicians to talk up the importance of teachers as a way of implicitly passing the buck for their own failings.

New research on poverty, published quietly by the Scottish government days before Christmas, is therefore critically important. It provides a hard-headed, measured and clear assessment of poverty in Scotland, and what might be done about it.

On one hand, there seem to be a number of positive long-term trends in the 2016 annual report for the Child Poverty Strategy for Scotland: of 37 indicators, nine have shown “significant” improvement in a year and 26 have held steady.

Poor children’s parents are more likely to be in work, have qualifications and be managing financially. Fewer of their children are growing up as smokers or surrounded by drug misuse, and more school-leavers from deprived backgrounds are going on to jobs, training or additional education.

But there are also some worrying signs: in the two statistically significant downturns, more of the poorest children report that they do not feel accepted by their peers at school, and more are struggling with numeracy. And with anti-poverty campaigners warning that, after decades of progress, poverty rates are likely to surge upwards in the coming years - already, more than one in five children in Scotland are in poverty - one expert says the report is particularly timely.

According to the University of Glasgow’s Professor Stephen McKinney, who researches the impact of poverty on education, it’s “early days”, but the report’s emphasis on the root causes of poverty is “a really good sign that we’re beginning to realise that it is a major problem for Scotland in the 21st century”.

He approves of the message that the government will bring forward a child poverty bill establishing statutory income targets, adding: “We can’t expect schools to solve these problems - these are wider societal concerns.”

But the report still contains “scary” figures - such as the 220,000 children in poverty, he says. And some data might not be as positive as it first appears: nearly a quarter of Modern Apprentices do not complete their training, for example, and McKinney would like more information on what becomes of them.

‘Far from a happy picture’

Kathleen Crymble,who runs a school uniform bank in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, for families struggling with education costs, is encouraged by some of the long-term trends in the report. But with only 9.2 per cent of the poorest children getting five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, 18 per cent having below-average mental health and just 56.3 per cent performing well in writing, “it’s still a far from happy picture”.

She is “not surprised” to see that many of the poorest children do not feel accepted by classmates, as previous research on the cost of the school day has shown how “alienated” they can become. This is “obviously having a knock-on effect on their mental health and education”, she adds.

Crymble started the uniform service in August 2015, and says it is crucial to provide new clothing, as this boosts children’s self-esteem and confidence and “ultimately has a positive effect on their education”. She expects demand to rise; a colleague who operates a food bank in East Kilbride told her that this school year he had seen the highest demand for help in 24 years.

EIS assistant secretary Andrea Bradley, who leads the teaching union’s campaigns against poverty, says: “Worryingly, the report clearly indicates that, in spite of Scottish government measures to mitigate the impact of UK-wide austerity, both relative and absolute child poverty levels have risen in Scotland since the last annual report.”

Bradley highlights a 2.5 per cent increase in the number of people - including many parents - earning less than the “living wage” in Scotland since 2014. She adds that there is “no disputing the high correlation between levels of parental income and children’s educational attainment”.

‘We’re beginning to realise that poverty is a major problem for Scotland in the 21st century’

She is also concerned by the long-term decline in poor children’s consumption of healthy food - which, she says, justifies the policy of free school meals to all P1-3s. The decline in participation in sport, and an emphasis on elite sport that tends to benefit those from privileged backgrounds, is also a concern, she adds.

Teachers can “do much to mitigate the impact of poverty”, Bradley says, as seen in the number of school-leavers reaching “positive destinations”. But “significant additional investment in education” is needed for schools to reduce the “damaging effects of poverty caused by political decision-making that occurs far from the school gates”.

Maureen McKenna, president of education directors’ body ADES and director of education in Glasgow, says that schools can make a difference, but must get better at joining forces with community and voluntary organisations. They provide a “bridge” between school and the world outside and, crucially, are “available all year round, not just term-time”, she adds.

For teachers accustomed to being landed with society’s problems, such broader-minded approaches can’t come soon enough. As one teacher starkly sums up, in research by the Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, school can provide some help to poor pupils. But “the honest truth is that kids from higher-income families are better set up to succeed”.

@Henry_Hepburn