Essay on Helping Low-Income Students Overcome Poverty: A Comprehensive Approach

Introduction

Poverty has been a challenge in many schools, and it affects the learning ability of many students. Teachers often find it hard to deal with such students since they require special attention to help them overcome their challenges. Low-income students often remain frustrated in life, thus affecting their general performance in school (Ellis et al., 2016). Therefore, more research should be done to come up with a comprehensive approach on how to assist the students. Consequently, I researched a school where I once served as a teacher to understand exactly the challenges that poverty students undergo.

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Study Methodology

The study involved an exploration of the issue of poverty in education. It was conducted in a school where I once worked as a staff. The study depended on the qualitative method to explore the perception of teachers on the effect of poverty in learning, and to know their input on what should be done to the low-income children to help them participate and be successful at school (Coe et al., 2017). I designed the research objectives, questions, and recruited teachers on a willingness basis to be participants in the study. All teachers in the school were allowed to participate and give their views. After that, two teachers were then picked through the help of the principal to be interrogated father on the matter. The principal of the school supervised the whole process to ensure that each teacher participates without pressure. The school was chosen since I had a close relationship with the teachers and other staff members in the group. Therefore, all the teachers were free to give their opinion and perception of the issue. They were also assured of confidentiality, and any unauthorized personnel accessed no data. Therefore, participates felt free to participate in the study by giving their perceptions about the subject. Since, they interacted with someone they knew, confidentiality was guaranteed.

Context and Participants

Ethical standards were met during the study to ensure that participants give their views without fear. Since the teachers were familiar with the researcher, they were assured of confidentiality. Besides, no one was forced to respond. Therefore, teachers were left to freely participate in the study without any influence from the researcher or the administration.

A total of twenty-nine teachers participated in the study. The teachers consisted of a mix of classroom teachers and specialist teachers as well. Among them, 52% were classroom teachers only, 27% were specialists only that included resource teacher, counselor, and learning assistance. Only 21% of the participants were both classroom and specialist teachers. All the teachers were picked from those who handled young children in primary school between ages two to age six. Two teachers, one a specialist and the other a classroom teacher, was then picked with the help of the head teacher to be interrogated further concerning the problem. Participants in the study were all experienced in teaching in inner-city schools.

Significant participants, about 39.95%, accepted that the socio-economic context of the school as mostly low-income, another 37.9% described the school to consist of children coming from mixed incomes (Skinner et al., 2019). And the rest of the teachers agreed that the children learning in the school came from families with middle income. Among the [participants, about a third of them were quite aware of the effect of poverty in the school. The rest of the teachers understood the impact of poverty on learning. More than half of the participants in the research agreed that the school did not have adequate resources to address the needs of students in the school living in poverty.

The research involved children; however, they were not included as participants since they were considered minors in giving responses to some of the research questions. For that reason, only teachers were involved in providing answers to some of the questions asked. All the teachers were recruited based on their willingness to participate. Therefore, no participant was forced to take part in the study.

Data Collection Method

Two methods of data collection were used. I used questionnaires that were distributed among the participants to allow them to answer the questions therein. Research also involved the use of interviews to help collect more data and feelings. The study utilized open-ended questionnaires to enable the participants to express their views and opinion of the subject (Denscombe, 2017). Every participant was given a humble time to go through the questions outlined in the questionnaires and respond to them effectively. Questionnaires contained a total of eight questions each to be answered within ten minutes.

In the first section of the study, the questions asked explored much on the meaning of child poverty and its effects on students' learning according to the teachers' perspective (Chamberlain et al., 2016). Teachers were also asked to explain some of the strengths they realize with students living in poverty. Besides, they were to describe the challenges they face when dealing with such students. The other section of the questionnaires used explored what should be done to help students coming from low-income families to assist them in participating and succeeding at school. All the participants recorded their ideas independently on the questionnaires provided. They prioritized them and gave their views on what is most needed to be done. All their recommendations touched on the immediate actions to be done in the classroom, the school, and the community.

An open interview was conducted under the coordination of the researcher to help find more insight into what transpires in schools having low-income students (Ellingson, 2017). The interview consisted of two participants from the teachers who participated in answering questionnaires. The teachers were once again given time to show their views and perception of students from low-income families. The data were then collected and kept in drawers under the supervisor of the supervisor to ensure that no information gets into an authorized hand. All the data were then analyzed to explore the feedbacks of the respondents.

Findings

At the beginning of the study, participants were asked to express their understanding of the phrase child poverty. Some of the teachers told me that child poverty is both visible and hidden, and it has no boundary (Alderson & Morrow, 2011). Some of the teachers also said that child poverty is a situation where children do not participate in the class because of hunger and lack of sleep or lack of warm clothes when the weather is cold. It can also be used to mean being treated differently or being viewed as someone who is insufficient for essential things. It also means a situation where a child goes to school when they are worried or anxious, thus failing to concentrate in class as required. Therefore, child poverty is considered as unfair and unjust.

Participants in the study were also asked to express their observations about the effects of poverty on students. On that question, teachers observed various ways in which poverty affected students' learning and participation in school. Hunger was a typical response among the participants as they argued that hungry students find it challenging to concentrate in class, and they are often tired when in class. Such students also have poor nutrition, thus affecting their health. As a result, the students often absent themselves from school. Poor diet also harms the child's behavior. Therefore, teachers stressed the importance of initiating a subsidies meal program to improve learners' participation in class. However, the teacher confirmed that different schools have different ways of subsidizing food for the students.

The research utilized both the questionnaires and the interview conducted to arrive at the findings. It was evident that among two thousand students in the school, about 78 come from low-income families. Most of the low-income students' however, got some incentives from the government and other organizations such as banks to pay their school fees. However, several teachers reported that about 20% of the students registered truancy due to lack of food. Most of them could not afford to come to school hungry.

About 40% of the students depended on the food offered in school. However, the food in school was also not enough for all the students. Therefore, most of the students failed to perform well in class as they were unable to concentrate in the classroom. A significant number of students also indicated poor health that affected their regular schooling. Malnutrition transpired among the students with low-income, thus affecting their concentration in school.

Data Analysis Procedure

Analysis of data employed the use of qualitative analysis method since the data collected were in the form of words and not figure. Qualitative data analysis is often used when the data collected is in the form of words, pictures, symbols, or observation (Thompson et al., 2016). In the study, three methods were used to analyze the data collected from teachers. The first method used was content analysis. It was used to analyze verbal data that came from teachers. It also helped in analyzing data recorded in questionnaires to find a solution to the problem.

The other method that was also used include narrative analysis, as it allowed the researcher to analyze several data from various sources (Davies & Hughes, 2014) For instance, all the data recorded in the questionnaires and those from interviews were analyzed using the method. It analyzed data based on the teachers' experiences and their interaction with the students. It involved reformulating the stories and opinions given by participants based on their experiences in the various context of the problem. Lastly, the data were also analyzed through the use of the grounded theory. It involved coming up with a casual explanation about a phenomenon from the study. It also expands to incorporate other views from more cases in the study.

Recommendations

Holding high expectations is essential in assisting students living in sever poverty to perform in the classroom. All teachers handling students living in poverty should be compassionate to ensure they accommodate the feelings of such students. According to Hughes & Davies (2019), when a teacher holds high expectations on learners, they feel motivated to work hard and achieve high in life. That is vital since once a student leaves your class, they feel motivated to work hard towards achieving their goals.

In most cases, the experiences of students are limited to what they see from their parents and their caregivers. Therefore, it is essential to take students out to see what the world has to offer. Those ways they will get to understand the various opportunity that can help them come out of poverty life. Therefore, teachers should be ready to take students outside class and teach them how to apply what is taught in class in real life.

The government should also give incentives to needy students to help them afford basic requirements in school. Programs such as providing relief food to schools with a high number of low-income students should be enhanced and financed by the government to ensure that students get enough food to enable them to concentrate in class. Besides, schools should also be made accessible to all students regardless of the social class to ensure that those from poverty do not strain much to acquire education.

Finally, the community should come out to support students that come from low-income families by conducting fundraising to buy food and essential elements such students may need in their educatio...