Jan Flaherty holds on Economic and Social Research Council studentship and her research interests are poverty and discourse. She has worked as a research assistant for Professor Ruth Lister at Lough-borough University.


Educational disadvantages.
The links between poverty, social class and poor educational attainment are strong. They are evident before the primary school, increase throughout a child’s school career, reflected in different qualifications and rates of access to further education.
2002 59% of children receiving free school meals (FSM), 70% of those are not receiving free school meals (non-FSM)
Schools in the poorest areas have 10 to 25% of pupils achieving 5GSCE passes at grades A*-C ( because they are haven’t resources for this, some special guides, computers or private tutors)
Nearly 90% of ’failing schools’ are located in deprived areas.
A close link between truanting and child poverty. Money problems in the family were a significant factors in younger children’s non-attendance at school.
Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to leave school at age 16, factor is decrease the chance of receiving high-grades GSCEs
Lack of materials resources such as space to work, books, computers at home, money for equipment and trips were idmitified by professionals in education as key factors in children’s low performance.


Poverty can follow a child into adulthood, in habiting aspirations and leading to under-achievement and educational and employment disadvantage. As a result, plans to reduce child poverty need to tackle both the immediate and long-term effects of childhood deprivation.