Teachers should be “at the heart” of the government’s child poverty taskforce, an education leader has said as new research reveals the extent to which teachers are being drawn into providing wider support for poorer students.
Nearly three in 10 teachers in England said they personally provided food to pupils in the summer term because they were concerned about their welfare, according to a poll conducted by Teacher Tapp for charity FareShare.
More teachers brought in food for pupils than in the previous year - especially in the most deprived areas, the poll shows.
Some 28 per cent of teachers said they personally provided food to at least one pupil in the summer term because they were worried about their welfare.
More teachers giving food to pupils
In a similar poll commissioned by the charity last summer, 26 per cent of teachers said they had brought in food for children.
More than a third of the teachers in the latest survey said they did not personally give food to pupils last term because their school already provided it for children in this situation.
FareShare, a charity that tackles hunger and food waste, is calling on the government to address the problem of child hunger and ensure that pupils get the nourishment they need to thrive in school.
In the latest survey of around 10,000 teachers, 36 per cent of those working in the more deprived areas reported handing out food to pupils, compared with 23 per cent in the more affluent areas.
The North West saw the biggest increase in teachers reporting that they brought in food for pupils - 34 per cent this year, compared with 29 per cent last year.
Children ‘enduring gnawing hunger’
Russell Hobby, CEO of teacher training charity Teach First, urged the government to quickly take action on childhood poverty to combat its “corrosive impact on wellbeing, attendance, aspiration and achievement”.
“The child poverty taskforce has great potential. Schools and teachers have deep insights into causes and solutions of child poverty in their communities, and they should be at the heart of these conversations,” he said.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, called on the government to fund universal free school meals rather than leaving it to teachers to deal with the “tragedy of so many children sat in classrooms enduring gnawing hunger”.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the findings reflect the fact that the number of pupils living in destitution has risen in recent years and called on the government’s taskforce to urgently address this “national scandal”.
A government spokesperson said it plans to create an ”ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, led by a taskforce co-chaired by the education secretary and work and pensions secretary,” alongside a scheme to “roll out free breakfast clubs in every primary school so children start the day ready to learn”.
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