Conceptualising poverty as a barrier to learning through ‘Poverty Proofing the School Day’: the genesis and impacts of stigmatisation

Mazzoli Smith, L.; Todd, L.

Abstract

This article draws on an evaluation of the Poverty proofing the school day initiative. It outlines an argument arrived at through abductive reasoning to explain the generic and widespread instances of the stigmatisation of disadvantaged pupils that have been uncovered. The process of abductive reasoning necessitated broadening the conceptual framework through which we usually understand poverty and its impacts on education, and in so doing we take account of the affective or psychosocial dimensions and the attendant coping strategies that result. Listening to children's descriptions of poverty and its impacts on schooling is an essential aspect of better understanding these non‐material aspects of poverty and their ramifications for all involved. There is, however, a lack of time and appropriate structures in schools to attend to this wider conceptualisation of poverty, yet the outcomes of Poverty proofing the school day demonstrate that schools do have a significant role to play in reducing the barriers to learning that result. We make the case that the specific conditions of high‐stakes performativity in which schools operate, and the dominance of instrumental and metrics‐based responses to issues around poverty and learning, reduce the visibility of the affective dimension and in so doing enable unwitting stigmatisation to result.

Citation

Mazzoli Smith, L., & Todd, L. (2019). Conceptualising poverty as a barrier to learning through ‘Poverty Proofing the School Day’: the genesis and impacts of stigmatisation. British Educational Research Journal, 45(2), 356-371. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3506

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jan 28, 2019
• Publication Date: Jan 28, 2019
• Deposit Date: Oct 12, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 28, 2020
• Journal: British Educational Research Journal
• Print ISSN: 0141-1926
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-3518
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 45
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 356-371
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3506
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1311971