Background to the Research

• It is a common assumption that children and their parents from disadvantaged areas hold very negative attitudes towards education. This review considers recent studies into children and young people from the preschool/nursery years through compulsory education and beyond, and seeks to establish, firstly, if there is a link between social disadvantage and attitudes towards education. Where social disadvantage is a factor, the report sets out to present the views of children, young people, and their parents, as well as detailing efforts within schools and communities to ameliorate the situation.
  

Research Approach

• The report analyses the recent NI literature into the area of social disadvantage and educational attitudes, but sets this in the wider context of corresponding national and international studies.
  

Main Findings

Early Motherhood

• The research suggests a clear link between social disadvantage and the rate of teenage pregnancy/early motherhood.
• A considerable proportion of young mothers in NI enjoyed school and appear not to have lost their educational aspirations.
• Home tuition is welcomed by young mothers but is perceived as insufficient as preparation for GCSEs. Communication is often poor between schools and tutors.
• A lack of affordable childcare prevents young mothers from being able to return to education.

Pre-School Education

• Studies of pre-school projects in areas of social disadvantage reveal major attitudinal benefits for children, which continue throughout their years at school.
• In the same projects, many parents are also encouraged to resume their education and become more supportive of their children's education.

The Primary Years

• Belfast primary school principals in disadvantaged areas suggest that the two biggest problems are that parents have their own more pressing problems and also that they do not know how best to support their children's education.
• There have been few studies carried out in NI analysing the attitudes of primary school children to education according to their social background.
• Indications are, however, that there is a broad approval by children for the education they are receiving, and criticism of a lack of after school activities and local facilities.

Transfer from Primary to Secondary School

• NI studies reveal differences in attitudes among parents according to social background concerning the desirable criteria for their child's secondary school.
• More educationally or socially disadvantaged parents appeared less concerned as to whether the secondary school was co-educational or integrated, and more interested in schools offering special needs support, and in a local area, where the child's friends were likely to be going too. These parents were also less interested in whether the school had a sixth form, a wide range of subjects or good teaching resources.

The Years of Compulsory Secondary Education

• The level of pupil educational alienation, where the pupils do not settle in to the secondary school, correlates significantly with social background, parental education and interest.
• More socially disadvantaged secondary school pupils tended to see their curriculum as more relevant, both for their immediate circumstances and for their future employment.
• Alternative curriculum innovations in socially disadvantaged areas have led to rises in motivation and attendance, the pupils often welcoming the more relaxed and adult atmosphere of the education offered.
• There appears to be little evidence to confirm the stereotype of more socially disadvantaged pupils being more negatively disposed towards their schooling.

The Post-Compulsory Years

• Continuing in full-time education beyond the age of 16 is more likely where the child's parents are employed, and in non-manual occupations.
• School leavers who are not only out of education but also out of work and not in training are more likely to come from a large family or a household with unemployed or economically inactive parents.
• There is a need for more evidence from NI studies to confirm whether young disadvantaged people leave education purely out of economic necessity.

Persistent Absentees from School

• There is clear evidence from several NI studies to show that pupils absent from school for non-medical reasons come disproportionately from disadvantaged homes. This correlation is strongest at Key Stage 3.
• When compared to other disadvantaged homes, the homes of persistent absentees for non-medical reasons often tended to suffer from emotional upheavals and family discord and the homes were also often more disorganised.
• Pupils absent for medical reasons are also about 50% more likely to come from disadvantaged homes.
• Few parents of absentees were opposed to education, but they gave less priority to attendance than other parents.

Pupils Excluded from School

• There is a clear link between school exclusion and social disadvantage in NI studies, as elsewhere in the UK.
• Small studies in NI suggest that children in residential care, boys (as opposed to girls), and pupils with special educational needs, are also more likely to be suspended or excluded from school.
• The negative attitudes of excluded pupils tend to focus on individual teachers, rather than the whole school or education in general.

Young People with Serious Behavioural Problems

• A small NI study suggests that the pupils with serious behavioural problems were also more disadvantaged in terms of fraught family relationships than in their socio-economic profile.
• Small NI studies of school behavioural units in socially disadvantaged areas suggest that they are having marked success in reducing disaffection and improving attendance.
• Further positive findings emerge from studies of NI centres educating pupils with serious behavioural problems. These reveal high levels of disadvantage among the young people, but major improvements in the young people's attitudes to education and their future employment. The young people interviewed were appreciative of the help they were receiving from sympathetic staff.

The report and briefing are available on the DENI website.