Despite being an
affluent country, poverty is a very real issue in Canadian society. The
Canadian Teacher’s Federation states that the groups most apt to be
impoverished are “vulnerable groups such as Aboriginal children, children of new
immigrants and children with disabilities” and that “Child poverty rates are at
double digit levels in all provinces except Alberta, Quebec and PEI”. Therefore teachers will encounter poverty almost
indefinitely in their classrooms, no matter where they work.
I have experience
working in inner city schools in Kingston, where poverty remains a big issue
for many of the students there. One child I worked with regularly came to
school without a lunch and without proper clothes for the weather. This child
had siblings in the school, and the problems were the same with those children.
As much as this problem was prevalent in the school and many children’s
problems were plain to see, I couldn’t always tell from looking at a student
that they were in financial crisis. This is something else I have learned and
will tuck away for when I become a teacher. Teachers must be mindful of these
situations even if we do not suspect them to be happening. The teachers I talked
to discussed with me how they infrequently have expensive filed trips or pizza
days as students may not be able to afford these luxuries. Instead, there were
breakfast programs in place for everyone at this school, not simply those who
were in need. There were also healthy snack trays and bins that were left in
the classroom and students simply had to ask to receive one (I worked in a kindergarten
class, but in older classes students could take what they wanted without
asking).
Many studies
have come to the similar conclusion that poverty is an obstacle that affects a
student’s learning. The CTF found that many low-income children experience the
following:
·
Reduced
motivation to learn
·
Lower
achievement
·
Less
participation in extracurricular activities
·
Lower
career aspirations
·
Interrupted
school attendance
·
Increased
risk of illiteracy
·
High
dropout rates
[C]hildren from lower income families were
less ready to learn than children from more affluent households . . . [There
are] important links between readiness to learn and what goes on in a child’s
home environment . . . the fact that the lower income children were less likely
to experience the home environment factor may help to explain the difference in
readiness to learn between the income levels. (CTF).
Therefore it is
essential for parents to establish a relationship with their students’ families
in order to fight this battle together.
I found several
videos on the topic of poverty in Canada, but these two I found the most
helpful and informative.
Works Cited
Barnett, W. Steven. “Long-Term
Cognitive and Academic Effects of Early Childhood Education on Children in
Poverty (March 1998), 27 (2), pg. 204-207
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