Canada: poverty negatively impacts educational outcomes, new publication shows
The Canadian Teachers’ Federation has launched a discussion booklet for students on the consequences of poverty in the classrooms and schools, aiming to engage students in school community social action projects.
Developed by the Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) Advisory Committee on Diversity and Human Rights, this booklet, entitled Poverty, what is it? presents some of the responses received from over 200 Grade 5 to 8 students who took part in the discussion of poverty in the spring of 2014.
“As classroom teachers, we see and understand first-hand the consequences of poverty in our classrooms and schools – students too hungry or too tired to concentrate; students who feel excluded because they can not participate in school programs and activities; students in low-income families whose parents struggle to pay the rent or buy food,” said the CTF President Dianne Woloschuk.
There is a strong body of evidence that the experience of poverty has a negative impact on students’ readiness and ability to learn, she added.
When teacher organisations call for actively bringing equity and social justice into schools, theyare asking that all citizens, including teachers, create room for the needs of all people in the classroom, she went on to note. As teachers, we can bring the topic of poverty forward and build it in to language,history, social studies, or health classes, for example, she said.
Woloschuk also said that when students understand the value of eliminating poverty, they can creatively engage in school community social action projects to effect positive change.
Any experience of injustice or inequality deeply marks the individual, group, or community that experiences it, and “carries lasting consequences for the entire society”, she stressed.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, equity in education means that all students should be able to achieve the same outcomes regardlessof their relationship to power, property, wealth or possessions.
The publication is available here
