Rethinking poverty and social class: The teacher's response

Abstract

Forty years ago it was easy to believe that child poverty had disappeared from modern Britain. It belonged in the past or to distant places – images of Oliver Twist or African famine victims would spring to mind. It was assumed that residual poverty in Britain was largely due to idleness or alcohol. Few can still believe this now. Despite dramatic advances in productivity associated with computer technologies, and a boom time for the super-rich, child poverty statistics are scandalous. In the UK poverty more than doubled during the 1980s (the Thatcher period), fell slowly after 2000 when the last (Labour) government set a slow pace for its disappearance, then rose again after the financial crash. Almost a third of Britain’s children are living in poverty - on average nine children in a class of thirty (Child Poverty Action Group 2018).