One in four teachers have said they personally brought food into school last term because they feared for hungry pupils.
And one-third of teachers surveyed said their schools regularly provided food support to children and their families, prompting condemnation of the government’s efforts in tackling child poverty from union leaders.
In the most deprived areas of the country, nearly half of teachers reported that their school provided food for needy children.
Teacher Tapp surveyed 9,000 teachers on behalf of the anti-hunger charity FareShare. There was a nine percentage point difference in the proportion of teachers bringing in food for children in more deprived areas compared with more affluent areas (31 per cent versus 22 per cent respectively).
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said schools were in an “uphill struggle” following the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and the government’s austerity cuts.
“The work that schools are doing [in supporting children in poverty], while hugely valuable, is not sustainable in the long term and is merely papering over the cracks of a deeply unequal society that it is incumbent on the government to fix,” he added.
Plea to extend free school meals
Mr Barton called for the free school meals system to be expanded to include all families on universal credit, and for children to be enrolled automatically.
“Going forward, there has to be agreement among those in power that it is not acceptable for nearly one-third of children to live in poverty in what is one of the richest countries in the world,” he said. “There must be an appetite to provide the sustained investment required to end this deep-seated inequity.”
The South West had the highest proportion of teachers reporting they had brought in food for children, at 29.4 per cent. London and the South East had the lowest, at 23 per cent.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said: “Our own surveys of teachers show that the majority are either personally, or through their school, providing free breakfasts and extra food for pupils during the day.
“Good nutrition is so vital for health, as well as good engagement and learning when in class. But the current situation - where teachers and schools go above and beyond their duty - is a sticking plaster approach, and one that serves to highlight the failure of government to properly address child poverty.
“The government must ensure all families who need support receive it, and the best way to do this is by funding free school meals for all children, starting with those in primary schools.”
NAHT assistant general secretary James Bowen echoed calls to extend free school meals. “Our members are increasingly having to go above and beyond to help struggling families by providing basic necessities. But this isn’t sustainable, especially as school budgets are also under considerable pressure,” he said.
George Wright, CEO of FareShare, said the charity has been struggling to meet “skyrocketing demand” from families over the summer. He called for the government to take action to ensure that surplus food on farms isn’t wasted and instead goes to families facing food insecurity.
Today’s findings follow a series of warnings over the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on children and schools, with more than half of teachers saying, in a NASUWT teaching union poll last year, that they had given food or clothing to their pupils.
A government spokesperson said: “Over a third of pupils in England now receive free school meals in education settings, compared with one in six in 2010, and we have extended eligibility several times to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century. This includes introducing new eligibility criteria for families receiving universal credit, to ensure even more children were eligible for a free school meal.
“We’re providing record financial support worth an average £3,300 per household. We have also raised benefits in line with inflation, increased the national living wage, and are helping households with food, energy and other essential costs.”
