Dr Daniela Sime Senior Lecturer, School of Applied Social Sciences d aniela.sime@strath.ac.uk

1. ‘You want the best for your kids’:Improving educational outcomes for children living in poverty through working with families in early years settings Dr Daniela Sime Senior Lecturer, School of Applied Social Sciences daniela.sime@strath.ac.uk

2. Outline • Child poverty in Scotland • The impact of poverty on children’s educational opportunities and well-being • Parents’ expectations • Assess the evidence on what works in supporting families in poverty • Implications for policy and practice

3. Understanding today’s families Changing family forms Major factors impacting on children and family life in 21st century Media and social networking Poverty and social inequalities Global warming Consumerism Migration and linguistic diversity Uncertainty about future World violence

4. Mothers in work • Employment of mothers affects the dynamics of family systems dramatically • Many families depend on childcare from early on • The variable quality of childcare available and high cost to families impacts on choices • Role of extended family- grandparents as main carers

5. Diversity of families • Children in reconstituted families - almost 50% of marriages end up in divorce • Children in single parent families - 1 in 4 families are lone parent families - UK: 3.1 million children in the UK (1.9 million parents) - Scotland:174,000 parents with 300,000 children Source: One Parent Families Scotland www.opfs.org.uk http://www.opfs.org.uk/files/one-parent-families_a-profile_2009.pdf

6. ‘Silenced children’ • Children in gay & lesbian families • Adopted children • Children in care/looked after - around 80,000 in the UK, of which 15,000 in Scotland • Children with imprisoned parents - 4% of children experience father imprisonment - 70% of women in prison have children

7. ‘Silenced children’ • Children in families with disability - 1.7 million disabled parents in the UK (12% of all parents) - 800,000 disabled children in the UK • Migrant and ethnic minority children (Gypsy Travellers) • Asylum seeking children - 20% of asylum seeking families have children - around 7,000 unaccompanied children, alone in the UK - children in detention centres

8. Family diversity – why should we care? • Families are children’s most important educators • Children’s and parents’ well-being is key to their ability to engage in education • Important how we think and talk about families • Direct implications on how we frame ‘parental involvement’ and how inclusive this is

9. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model

10. Why focus on poverty? All societies exhibit some degree of inequality Poverty is the unacceptabledimension of inequality in our society It requires policy and practical action Practitioners can help children at risk!

11. Defining poverty • Poverty – a situation where resources are less than needs or below a defined poverty line. • Needs – defined in relation to prevailing living standards of the society. What do you see as essential needs? “Individuals, families and groups can be said to be in poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the types of diet, participate in the activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged or approved, in societies in which they belong”. (Townsend, 1979:31)

12. What do poorest children go without? (Adelman et al., 2003) Three meals a day 8% Fresh fruit and milk 21% Books 5% Leisure equipment 18% Waterproof jacket 13% School uniform 16% Toys (dolls, teddies) 6% Own room when 10 years old 11% Meat or fish every day 30% School trip 12% Construction toys 30% Family holiday 60% New clothes, fitted shoes 24% Educational games 32% Garden to play in 21%

13. Points to consider • How does your school/service identify children/families who are poor? • Any indicators that you use? • Who does this and how is information used? • What actions are in place to support poor children?

14. Poverty and its impact on local areas

15. ..and the other half Photos of affluent areas

16. Impact of area on… • Safety • Children’s access to services • Quality of services Any good places, there’s fighting when you go, so you don’t feel safe… because people are in teams and that… and everything is vandalised’ (Boy, 13, city estate) ‘There’s nothing to do in the park for young people of my age, it’s all for younger children, swings and slides. So we end up just walking up and down the streets’ (Girl, 14, city estate) ‘Everything is run down here, not like in the posh areas’ (Girl, 10, remote rural)

17. £80m bill for obesity: Benefit claims by those too fat to work soared under Labour (Daily Mail, 14/02/10) Media discourse

18. Myths about poverty • ‘People on benefits are lazy and don’t want to work’ FACT: Most people affected by poverty are children, elders, workers on low wages or disabled • FACT: Disabled and sick people may find it difficult to get employment- assumption their work will be affected • FACT: Ethnic minorities are often excluded from labour market through prejudice • ‘People can have a great life on benefits, they go on holidays abroad, have big 60-inchTVs and drive Mercedeses’ • FACT: Many people do not claim the benefits they are entitled to. • FACT: Vast majority go without basic resources and activities and have limited access to services. • FACT: Poverty is embarrassing, families will give children ‘luxury’ items, to mask their situation.

19. The ‘working poor’

20. Measuring child poverty • In UK- poverty line- 60% of median income per week, after housing costs. DWP (2012) Households Below Average Income 2010/2011

21. How many children then? • Whole UK 2010/11 3.5 million expected to rise in 2020 4.7 million • Scotland 250,000- 260,000 (25%) • How are we comparing with the rest of the world? Child Poverty Action Group (www.cpag.org.uk )

22. Relative income poverty: Percentage of children in households with income less than 50% of median

23. Young people’s family and peer relationships (Unicef, 2007)

24. Behaviours and risks (Unicef, 2007)

25. Behaviours and risks (Unicef, 2007)

26. Wilkinson & Pickett (2009)

27. Inequality gap

28. Inequality rather than income is the problem in developed countries

29. Blaming the victim? • Structure vs. Agency • Structure- focus on social circumstances and social opportunities (labour market conditions, economic growth, educational opportunities, services etc.) • Agency – focus on individual choices and effort, individuals are seen as ultimately responsible • Life chances are a product of both structure and agency, individual decisions are often constrained by structural forces • Individuals can not always be blamed for their situation!

30. Factors that contribute to child poverty • Family type - lone-parent family 48% of all lone parent families in UK (1.5 m) - two-parent family 21% of all two-parent families in UK (2.0 m) • Number of children - 1 child - 24% 2 children - 24% 3 children - 29% - 4 or more children 51% • Education of parents, especially of mothers • Disability in family (parent or child) • Parents’ employment - employed lone parent 9% two parents 3% - unemployed lone parent 74% two parents 77% • Ethnic group White 25% (3.4 mil) Indian 42% (0.1mil) Pakistani/Bangladeshi 63%(0.2 mil) Black, Black British 49% (0.2 mil) Other ethnic groups 52%(0.2 mil)

33. Most damaging effects of child poverty IMPACT ON EDUCATION • Lower achievement • Less time spent in education IMPACT ON HEALTH • Shorter life expectancy • Increased exposure to risks and bad health; higher risk of mental health IMPACT ON SOCIAL PARTICIPATION • Limited access to activities, services and opportunities • Diminishedcultural, economic and social capital • Can possibly link to cycles of disadvantage (Read more at www.cpag.org.uk/povertyfacts/)

34. Poverty and health- life expectancy • Glasgow – 69 years (lowest in the UK; UK average is 79!) • Significant discrepancies between areas: Bearden, Lenzie, Milngavie, Clarkston, Kilmacolm – 80+ Calton, Shettleston, Drumchapel, Dalmarnock, Kinning Park – 54-59 Iraq – 68; Iran- 69; North Korea- 71; Gaza - 73 • 47% of Glasgow’s population lives in 15% of the most deprived areas in Scotland (Glasgow Economic Audit, 2007) • Higher rates of infant mortality and illness in deprived areas

35. SIMD data- Glasgow maphttp://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/SIMD

36. Growing up in Scotland (GUS) study • Longitudinal project- following 8,000 children in Scotland from birth/2-3 years old throughout their life • ‘The circumstances of persistently poor children’ report http://www.growingupinscotland.org.uk/

37. Education gap at age 3

38. ‘It’s a class thing’- The importance of the home environment • Differences in parental approaches • Children being read to every day 42% in poor families vs. 79% in non-poor • Children taking part in local activities 34% in poor families vs. 84% in non-poor • By age 2, children whose mothers frequently spoke to them had on average 300 more words than peers • What parents/carers to with their children matters more than their qualifications or SES (See the EPPE study)

39. An impossible mission then? • Clearly, the quality of the home learning environment and parenting style put some children at advantage, but… • Feinstein’s study on 1970 Birth Cohort Survey: 10 % in the bottom group at 42 months were in the top quartile at age 10 • Early years provision is crucial to children from disadvantaged backgrounds -decisions and attitudes experienced in early years are the main drivers for educational attainment in teenage years

40. The key is quality of care • High quality early years provision At 15 and 24 months, the more attentive, responsive and stimulating nursery, the higher the cognitive and linguistic scores At age 4, higher math, reading and memory scores for children in high quality nurseries • Low quality early years provision- opposite effect Including high cortisol levels, aggression, attachment problems later on in life

41. Why are the early years critical? • This is the optimum time to make the most difference By age of 3, 50% of language is in place; by age of 5, 85% By age of 4, brain size at 90% of adult size • Critical period for attainment in education, confidence, skills By age 4, children become aware of differences related to gender, race, ethnicity, disability • Foundation for future well-being and key time as prevention of later problems, e.g. drug use, mental health etc.

42. Deprivation in early years has long term effects

43. What makes high quality early years care? • Ratio of children to staff (3:1 at ages 0-2) • Quality of adult-child interactions • Motivation of staff • Graduates among staff (1/3 or ½ of staffing) • Pay scales based on school roles • Quality of the physical environment See Susan Deacon’s Review (2011) ‘Joining the dots: A better start for Scotland’s Children’

44. Promoting thinking skills (Bloom’s taxonomy, 1956) What do you think… What will happen if… Why is this… How can we… Have you thought about…

45. Sustained shared thinking(Siraj-Blatchford and Silva, 2004) What is your favourite fruit?Child: I like bananas. Why do you like bananas?Child: Because they are sweet? Where do we get the bananas from?Child: The supermarket? Do you go with your mum shopping?Child: Yes, we go together in the car. Teacher: That sounds great! Let’s draw a banana.Child: Ok. What is your favourite fruit? Child: I like bananas. Why do you think they are yellow? Child: Because they are green first, and then they ripe and turn yellow. Where do you think they come from? Child: They come from Africa, which is far away, so they bring them on a ship. What could we make with a banana? Child: We could paint a face on it and turn it into a puppet. Great idea. Do you want to ask me something about bananas?

46. What factors enable poor children to achieve positive outcomes in adulthood? Financial factors Environmental factors Individual and family-level factors Practice-level factors

47. Practice level factors Having high expectations and aspirations Foster resilience and coping strategies in children and parents Promote high levels of engagement in children’s education Supporting the educational attainment of parents and children Creating mixed cohorts of advantaged and disadvantaged children Delivering personalised support through key workers and ‘trusted’ individuals Delivering services in a localised way

48. Have high expectations and aspirations • Barrier: ‘Self-fulfilling prophecy’ - Limiting children’s educational opportunities by having low aspirations and expectations • Don’t think: ‘They can’t do it’ ; ‘Given where they come from, what do you expect?’, ‘No point in trying’, ‘They won’t go to university, will they?’ • Do: • aim high for every child • challenge children’s thinking and learning • guide children’s learning on one to one activities • ask challenging questions • raise parents’ confidence

49. Valuing children’s informal learning • Problem: Informal learning that children do in their families is often seen as irrelevant or undesirable (e.g. work skills of Gypsy Travellers, bilingual skills) • Don’t think: ‘That’s not in the curriculum, so what good is it to me?’; ‘I can’t do/speak that, so how can I use it?’ • Do: • Build on children’s home-based learning • Get children to show their skills/knowledge- teach others • Get parents involved in activities in the nursery/school

50. Building on diversity • Problem: home culture and language are stripped away as ‘unacceptable’ • Don’t say: ‘We don’t speak Polish in here’, ‘We don’t say ‘aye’ in here’, ‘Is that what you do at home?’ • Do: • Acknowledge and accept children’s backgrounds • Find a way to reconcile their home and school identities • Celebrate diversity, but don’t make it tokenistic • Make the nursery/school environment a welcoming place for all