Many pupils in England hungry and badly clothed, say teachers

Teachers have warned that growing levels of poverty across England are having a devastating effect on pupils, with more children going hungry and being unable to afford warm clothes this winter.

The findings from the National Education Union paint a harrowing picture of day-to-day poverty in schools. Teachers say that a lack of food, poor housing and unsuitable clothes are overwhelming pupils and cash-strapped schools.

Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the union, described “a Dickensian picture” of poverty: “The government is out of touch with the distressing new reality of children’s daily lives: with what it means to live without enough money for basics such as food, shoes and adequate clothing.

“[It] has failed to recognise the human cost of its cuts to schools and other children’s services and to the social security system, and its failure to address the in-work poverty faced by one in five workers.”

Schools have been hard hit by per-pupil funding cuts implemented by central government. Three out of 10 maintained secondary schools now have budget deficits of nearly £500,000.

Last month the UN published a devastating report on levels of poverty in the UK, finding that the UK government had inflicted “great misery” on its people with “punitive, mean-spirited, and often callous” austerity policies driven by a political desire rather than economic necessity.

Bousted said Monday’s report backed up those findings and revealed the true cost of the government’s cuts: “The government must stop hiding from the facts. Children can’t escape the poverty trap without an urgent change to national policies.”

The study was based on a poll of 1,026 teachers in England. It found:

• Almost half said more children were going hungry compared with three years ago, with only 2% saying the situation had got better.

• Two-thirds of teachers said more families were unable to afford adequate winter clothes or shoes compared with three years ago.

• Teachers reported schools having to provide children with coats as the cold weather kicked in; others said pupils regularly came to school with holes in their clothes and shoes that were held together with tape.

The report also raised concerns about in-work poverty and housing issues such as high rents, homelessness and insecurity, as well as fears about how the rollout of universal credit would exacerbate the problem.

It found that schools across England were doing what they could to help, offering free breakfast clubs, running foodbanks, giving hampers to families and providing meals during holidays.

In addition, it found schools were providing pupils with sanitary items and Christmas presents, and paying for school trips as well as travel to and from school. It even found some schools are providing household items, such as beds, bed linen and curtains.

But the union said that as schools were already being hit by funding cuts it was becoming more and more difficult to provide this level of extra support.

And it warned that these conditions were having a crippling effect on the children’s capacity to learn and grow, with increasing absences, behaviour problems and feelings of shame.