School Poverty

Teachers cannot tackle the impact of child poverty on education by themselves, according to Scotland's largest teachers' union, the EIS. EIS president Nicola Fisher has argued that austerity in public spending and welfare reform have added to the child poverty problem.

BBC Scotland has heard several stories which highlight the effects of deprivation on school children. They include stories about dirty clothes, hunger and children being unable to start school on time.

"I think we actually have to look at the fact that this will take a whole society to fix and stop expecting the teachers and the schools to fix it all."  Nicola Fisher explained.

 It is not simply about the cost of living on a low income or, for instance, helping a child in a house without books improve their reading. It is also about difficult issues which face society as a whole: for example social exclusion and intergenerational unemployment and poverty. There is also the issue of the "working poor" - a child may be living in poverty even though a parent is working.