Under embargo until: 00.01hrs Thursday 6 December 2007

Combating the effects of child poverty on educational attainment in Wales

Innovative policies designed to combat the effects of child poverty on educational attainment in Wales are helping, but more needs to be done. This is according to a Viewpoint paper from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), launched today (6 December) in Cardiff at an event attended by Jane Hutt, Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills.

Jane Hutt said: “We know that education is the prime route out of poverty. The Welsh Assembly Government is committed to ensuring that all children and young people in Wales, whatever their circumstances, have access to high quality education and are able to achieve the learning outcomes they need to become socially and economically active citizens.”

The thinkpiece – Combating child poverty in Wales: are effective education strategies in place? by Professor David Egan of the University of Wales Institute – draws on JRF research to explain the mixed progress in Wales over the last decade, looking at current work in this area and potential solutions.

Although child poverty has significantly reduced throughout Wales, it still affects more than one in four children. Egan argues that disadvantaged children are not enjoying the rate of progress experienced by their more privileged peers.

Professor David Egan said: “The association of child poverty with low educational achievement is well known. While school experiences and the resulting attitudes to education are at the heart of the social divide in educational outcomes, they have not been central in developing the necessary solutions. Measures to improve the extent to which disadvantaged children engage in education are elusive but cannot be neglected.”

Egan’s paper asserts that schools alone cannot overcome the link between child poverty and low educational achievement. He suggests a need for integration of discrete education policies that support disadvantaged children, and an emphasis on a range of out-of-school and community-based services for these young people.

Notes to Editors:

1. The seminar, Combating child poverty in Wales: are effective education strategies in place? takes place on Thursday 6 December 2007 at 10.00am.
2. The Viewpoint, Combating child poverty in Wales: are effective education strategies in place? by David Egan is published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
3. Professor David Egan is the Director of the Wales Institute for Applied Education Research, Cardiff School of Education at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff.
4. Viewpoint is an occasional JRF series that aims to illuminate debate from an informed expert’s perspective. The paper draws on the JRF’s programme of work on education and poverty. The first nine studies, published in 2007, investigated features of the relationship between poverty and education outcomes.
5. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is one of the largest social policy research and development charities in the UK. It supports a research and development programme that seeks to understand the causes of social difficulties and explore ways of overcoming them.

Issued by Charlotte Morris, JRF Senior Media Relations Manager: 01904 615 919 / 020 7278 9665 / charlotte.morris@jrf.org.uk