Effects Of Poverty

Effects of poverty

Effects of poverty

Research Question

What is the effect of poverty on early childhood learning in Barking and Dagenham?

Introduction

Poverty refers to a host of related variables that adversely affect children's develop- merit: limited parental education, single-parent families, and problematic parenting styles, low occupational status, overcrowded living conditions and troubled neighborhoods. Societal forces act in consort to produce a 'caste-like minority group.' with a limited potential for changing status or employment resulting in what can amount to enforced ghettoizatlon. As a consequence, children from impoverished backgrounds have been termed 'culturally deprived, culturally alienated, culturally divergent, socioeconomically deprived and economically deprived (Smith, 2001, 1512). In the suburbs of England the incident of poverty appears to affect fairly a large proportion of people. This research takes into account the poverty situation of two suburbs: Dagenham and Barkings.

Discussion

Poverty is the lack of resources necessary to meet the needs of a population or group of specific individuals, without even having the ability and opportunity of how to produce these resources. Although UK is one of the most advanced industrialized countries in the world, it has some of the highest child poverty rates in the industrialized world. Some children are poor because their parents are working, yet poor. Other poor children live with single mothers or recent immigrants. Children living in poverty experience increased strain on their physical, emotional, psychological, and social well-being. That said, there are some industrialized nations that have reduced child poverty rates through a number of programs and policies (Saraga, 1998, 3).By many accounts, the poor in wealthier countries like UK is getting poorer, and the gap between the lowest- and highest-income families has widened. Average incomes for the poorest in UK, for example, have increased by about 18 percent over the past 10 years, while the wealthiest families experienced a 30 percent increase. Young couples with children experienced significant downward shifts, as their average wealth fell about 30 percent over the last decade. Inequality has worsened among families with children.

Causes of Poverty in UK

Children may be contributing to family poverty because they are a drain on family resources; however, research shows that in countries with more family-friendly policies, disposable income falls only moderately when families have children (Glasby, 2007, 65). Children are poor for many reasons—mostly due to their parent's relationship to the labour force. Some are poor because their parents earn low wages and/ or work non-standard jobs; others have parents with inadequate education or educational credentials that are not recognized in UK; some have experienced their parents' marital break-up and/or live in lone-parent households; and others have been affected by government cuts in social spending. The most vulnerable children are those from recent immigrant families; from racialized groups, including Aboriginal children; children with disabilities; and (despite some improvements) those living in female-headed, single-parent families (Duncan, 1994, 296).

Undoubtedly poverty is relative and is measured in different ways. The definition of poverty requires the analysis prior to the general economic situation in each area or region, and cultural patterns ...