The relationship between poverty and access to quality education has received a significant literature review in the past decade. Different studies point out that poverty contributes to academic failure implying that children born in a low-income family are taken to a vicious circle that is difficult to escape. Children born in poverty are ill prepared to join schools affecting their ability to compete with other children from wealthy families leading to the inability to integrate. According to researchers and sociologists, children born in poverty have a lower chance of succeeding in schools implying that the probability of failure is high.
Similarly success for such students in their adulthood is negatively affected by poverty that their chances of succeeding in their future education (Santos, 2009). The purpose of this paper is to conduct a literature review to determine the impact of poverty on early childhood education. The paper uses five articles obtained from different sources to identify the arguments held by various writers and the existing gaps that need to be studied further.
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Poverty according to the European Union definition is a situation in which an individual’s income and resources are inadequate to the extent that such a person cannot access acceptable living standards in society. Poverty can lead to other disadvantages like unemployment, insufficient income, and inadequate healthcare, housing-related issues as well as acting as a barrier to lifelong learning, recreation, culture and sports (Akareem & Hossain, 2016). Similarly, poverty can also lead to the exclusion of an individual from participating in social cultural and economic activities. Additionally, poverty can also influence the restriction of an individual from accessing their fundamental rights (Santos, 2009). Education has a primary goal of preparing children as members of a larger society and for their roles in the workplace.
Researchers point out that the number of young school going children who join school without basic numeracy and literacy skills is slightly higher in poor and minority groups compared to children from middle-class backgrounds. Similarly, children from minority groups and low-income families are more likely to struggle in school compared to children from wealthier families. According to studies, high-quality education for young children contributes to measurable long-term impacts on such children (Akareem & Hossain, 2016). Poor communities are likely to receive low-quality education making it difficult for them to have a pathway out of poverty.
Different studies show that students from poor and black dominated schools attend learning institutions that have weak management, lack discipline and are poorly equipped. Similarly, such schools lack experienced and qualified teachers. Poverty and low-quality learning in such institutions is also affected by social mechanisms like the influence of parents and peers and the neighbourhood effect (Shepherd, 2011). Children are likely to attend a school that is closest to their home and therefore it is challenging to disentangle the influence of poor communities and poor schools. According to Spaull (2011), the effects of the city and the school social, economic status are more likely to affect the performance of a child than the individual child social, financial background. According to the author, the school that a child attends and the area that they live affects their ability to succeed academically.
Poverty affects the ability of a school to hire qualified and experienced teachers. Similarly, it impairs the financial capability for parents to buy adequate textbooks that are critical to educational success. Studies show significant discrepancies between children from poor backgrounds and those from wealthy families regarding access to books and their academic performance. Similarly, classroom practices like issuing homework, up to date assessment records and coverage of the curriculum affected student performance (Shepherd, 2011). However, such factors do not necessarily imply causation since other issues can change classroom practices.
From the literature review, poverty plays a significant role in defining access to quality early childhood education. Past studies have concentrated their efforts on the general education with few dealing with early childhood. It is for this reason that this study focuses on early childhood since it will significantly affect the performance of a child in future academic prospects. Early childhood forms the foundation of educational success, and therefore its importance cannot be overemphasised (Dondofema & Samkange, 2016). This study will thus fill the existing gaps in poverty and early childhood.
This study will focus on the functionalist perspective in the understanding of education in public schools. This perspective explains the social phenomenon by understanding how the society adjusts and adapt to the changes in their social conditions. Similarly, the conflict paradigm will also be used to examine the relationship between society and schooling. According to this theory, individuals live in a conflict-ridden and divided society that has individuals who compete to control the education system.
This is a comparative study where the researcher will compare students from poor schools with those from middle-class neighbourhoods. The research methodology that will be employed by this study involves the selection of three poor neighbourhoods and selecting two schools from each area. A sample of five students will be chosen from each school. The selected sample will be given simple literary and numerical questions which will also be administered to a similar sample from the middle-class neighbourhood. The performance of the students in each category will be compared with the other to conclude. The findings in this study will help to support the outcome of the literature review. Similarly, it can also identify gaps in the existing literature for further research.
References
Akareem, H., & Hossain, S. (2016). Determinants of education quality: what makes students’ perception different? Open Review Of Educational Research , 3 (1), 52-67. doi: 10.1080/23265507.2016.1155167
Dondofema, T., & Samkange, D. (2016). Challenges Faced by Primary School Teachers in Schools with Multi-Grade Classes in Zimbabwe: A Case for Ten Primary Schools in Gutu District in Masvingo Province of Zimbabwe. Scholars Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences , 4 (7), 758-765. doi: 10.21276/sjahss.2016.4.7.3
Santos, M. (2009). Human Capital and the Quality of Education in a Poverty Trap Model. SSRN Electronic Journal . doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2376445
Shepherd, D. (2011). Constraints to school effectiveness: What prevents poor schools from delivering results? Stellenbosch Economic Working Paper No. 05/2011, Stellenbosch University: Department of Economics.
Spaull, N. (2011). Preliminary analysis of SACMEQ III”. Stellenbosch Economic Working Paper No. 11/2011, Stellenbosch University: Department of Economics.
