Partnership between Glos Educatief and the Alliance Against Child Poverty

During her 20 years as a teacher in a low-SES neighbourhood and in a prosperous new-build neighbourhood, Tilly de Jong experienced the differences between children growing up in poverty and those growing up in wealth: “It is incredibly distressing when a child cannot take part in a school trip because their parents simply do not have the money, or when they never celebrate their birthday because they cannot invite any friends from school. But I have also experienced children living with their grandmother, who had two jobs to make ends meet: cleaning during the day and working nights at PostNL’s sorting centre. So the children were alone at night and in the morning. A slice of white bread without any topping was their breakfast.”

Because she has seen in practice that growing up healthy and poverty do not always go hand in hand, De Jong wholeheartedly supports the objectives of the Alliance Against Child Poverty: “It is good that more attention is being paid to children growing up in poverty and to how schools can deal with this. As a teacher, you do not always realise what it does to a child living in poverty when they hear another child talking about the abundance at home.”

De Jong is not alone in her concerns, as demonstrated by representative research commissioned by Bazalt Groep last September among teachers and school leaders in primary and secondary education. Half of all teachers are concerned about inequality of opportunity among their pupils. In both primary and secondary education, a majority of teachers observe that pupils do not all have the same opportunities.

The main findings

• Distance learning has particularly adverse effects on disadvantaged pupils: The vast majority of the research groups indicate that distance learning has mild or significant adverse effects on disadvantaged pupils (between 74% and 83%).
• The coronavirus crisis has made disadvantaged pupils more visible: The majority of secondary school teachers (69%), secondary school leaders (76%), primary school teachers (72%) and primary school leaders (64%) indicate that distance learning (due to coronavirus) made it more apparent to them which pupils at their school are disadvantaged.
• Inequality of opportunity is mainly caused by the home situation: The results show that, in particular, the home situation/background (less support, less attention, fewer (ICT) resources and parents with lower levels of education) has a major influence on whether a pupil has good or poor opportunities.
• More than half to two-thirds of the research groups experience inequality of opportunity among pupils at their school: Between 59% (primary school teachers) and 65% (secondary school teachers) believe that there is inequality of opportunity among pupils. Approximately half are also concerned about this. A (large) majority believe that inequality of opportunity among pupils can be reduced.
• Primary education sees slightly more inequality of opportunity than it did several years ago: Overall, according to secondary school teachers and leaders, inequality of opportunity has remained virtually unchanged. Primary school teachers and (especially) school leaders believe that, overall, there is slightly more inequality of opportunity than there was several years ago.
• Combating inequality of opportunity is a shared responsibility, particularly that of the school together with the pupils’ parents: The majority of the research groups indicate that it is partly the school’s responsibility, but that responsibility also lies partly with others (between 63% and 73%). Governments are mentioned most often, including municipalities, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, and politicians. Approximately 9 out of 10 respondents see it as a shared responsibility with parents.
• Schools can help give children better opportunities: Many teachers are aware of their role in combating inequality of opportunity (75% in primary education, 59% in secondary education). School leaders are even more positive about this (89% to 84%). The majority of the research groups are convinced that they themselves can influence the reduction of inequality of opportunity in the classroom and at school (55% to 76%).
• Many primary and secondary teachers do not feel competent to give their pupils better opportunities: Less than half (40% to 43%) of education professionals indicate that they have the skills to combat inequality of opportunity.

Click here for the research.