Material Deprivation

• Material Deprivation

  A lack of material resources or economic necessities needed to succeed in school.
• Palmer stated that:

  • Almost 50% of all children from ethnic minority backgrounds live in low-income households (compared to 25% of all white children)
  • Individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds are twice as likely to be unemployed than white people.
  • Households of ethnic minority backgrounds are 3x as likely to become homeless.
• The inequality stated by Palmer is reflected in statistics for free school meals.

  • There is a high proportion of Pakistani and Bangladeshi students in receipt of free school meals, indicating high levels of material deprivation, which may be why statistically these students achieve lower grades.
  • There is a significantly low proportion of Indian students in receipt of free school meals, indicating low levels of material deprivation, which may help explain why they statistically achieve higher grades.
• Students from some ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to face material deprivation because:

  1. Parents may arrive in the UK without internationally recognised qualifications.
  2. Language barriers maybe also prevent parents form getting jobs.
  3. Racism in employment is a factor.
  4. Cultural traditions in some households may prevent one parent, typically the mother, from working.
• Material deprivation may lead to poor housing, leaving pupils in cold, damp housing and making them prone to sickness. This means the children fall ill more often and miss school, leading to underachievement.

  Poor nutrition may cause children to not consume the vitamins, minerals and nutrients they need to have the energy to focus and immunity to stay well. A lack of this leads to underachievement.
• AO3: Policies which assist in minimising the effects of material deprivation

  1. Homework Clubs: give students a quiet place to study with wifi and resources.
  2. During Covid-19, students were given laptops so they could all access the learning.
• Weakness 😭: Critics argue that students of ethnic minority backgrounds don't underachieve due to their race but simply their class and class overrides ethnicity in terms of educational achievement.