I had an interesting meeting last week with Save the Children (STC). I have to admit, I was under a misapprehension. I had thought that the charity worked only overseas in the developing world, but this is far from the case. STC is doing some important work on education,in the UK, particularly looking at getting resources to the most disadvantaged children. Their work in this field could not me more important.
"Schools should be engines of social mobility. They should enable children to overcome disadvantage and deprivation so they can fulfil their innate talents and take control of their own destiny. Instead of grimly accepting the fate which the lottery of birth allocates to each individual, schools affirm our belief in the power of human agency to give meaning, structure and hope to every life. But the sad truth about our schools today is that, far from making opportunity more equal they only deepen the divide between the rich and poor, the fortunate and the forgotten. It is a profoundly dispiriting story...The poorest students in our schools are those pupils eligible for free school meals. From the beginning to the end of primary school, the achievement gap between FSM and non-FSM children widens – and from 11 to 14 the gap widens further still..... In those schools where more than half the children are eligible for free school meals only 13% of children get five decent GCSE passes....Out of 75,000 children eligible for free school meals only 5,000 were even entered for A levels. Of these just 189 got 3As."
STC confirm, in their manifesto that 33% of pupils eligible for free school meals, are likely to succeed at every key stage at school as their better off peers. The gap in development emerges as early as age 22 months - before they even reach primary school.
If this were not bad enough, STC also notes that "despite being one of the richest countries, the UK experiences some of the highest level of severe child poverty in the developed world". That figure currently stands at 1.7million.
What amazes me is that Labour always claim that they are the party of the poor. Yet child poverty in our country remains a scandal. This Labour Government has condemned our poorest children to an education far worse than many of their peers.
P.S. I have just received the following message from Save the Children: the 1.7m children living in poverty is actually the number of children living in severe child poverty (under Save the Children's measure whereby a family has a household income which is below 50% of the median income plus has three instances of material deprivation - ie they are lacking three basic essentials). General child poverty levels are higher than this - as defined by a household income which is below 60% of the median income. The latest government figures, from 2007/08, show that there are 2.9 million children living in poverty under this measure before housing costs are taken into account and 4 million children after housing costs.
