Equipping future classroom teachers to understand the situation of low socio-economic status learners

Abstract

Socio-economic status (SES) has a huge effect on our lives and particularly on the lives of children. A low socio-economic status has life-long consequences that can have a devastating impact on children. Among the factors of development connected with SES are school and, in particular, teachers. In my Master's thesis, I focus on SES consequences which affect children coming from families with a lower SES. I also focus on understanding their overall functioning in the classroom. In the theoretical part, I explain the terms ‘socio-economic status’ and ‘poverty’. I define the consequences of living in poverty for a child’s development, and I also present strategies and methods for a teacher to act and teach in the classroom with the goal of minimising the gap between a higher and a lower SES among pupils. In the theoretical part, I write about fairness and meritocracy, and about school as an environment for reproducing inequality. In the empirical part, I interviewed 89 students of the Faculty of Education, Ljubljana. I researched the knowledge of future primary school teachers about poverty. Do they know what consequences can be associated with SES? Do they feel competent to teach children from a lower socio-economic environment? I was intrerested in how much knowledge about this topic students receive at the Faculty, and whether they would like to have more related information and knowledge. I asked them about methods for minimising the gap between pupils from different socio-economic backgrounds, and what doubts and reservations they may have about teaching children from lower SES environments. At the end of my research, I asked students about their attitudes towards the impact of politics on the school system, and about the role of the school system in reproducing socio-economic classes