The life journey of a child growing up in poverty

Being a child growing up in poverty, I knew from an early age that my opportunities in life will be limited. I first released it when I noticed the shocked face of my new teacher when I reached the age of 10, the moment she realised that I was not able to write.

I have spent my first years of education in a multi-age classroom located in a small village in rural southern Greece, it sounds idyllic for some but the multi-age classrooms in Greece at the early 90s were not the best choice for your education, overworked teachers dealing with 20 or 30 children at the time, focused more on the older children while the young ones were not given the proper attention. My parents had to focus on my 3 other order siblings that had to face exams and more advanced learning, while at the same time they had to take care of their elderly parents, maintain our agricultural production that helps to feed us and manage to make ends meet.

As a result, I ended up not being able to know how to write at the age of 10, despite all the effort and hard work I was putting in, I never managed to get grades above the average, with people always commenting on my writing skills and awful Greek grammar.

But you don’t have to be in rural Greece for your education to be adversely affected if you are growing up in poverty. In England we have firm evidence that pupils in low-income families are facing similar difficulties as I did in rural Greece during the 90s. Children living in the poorest areas of England are less likely to meet the expected levels across all early learning goals by age 5 compared to those children living in more affluent areas. Just 56% of children in poorer areas of England manage to achieve the expected levels across all early learning goals, 20 percentage points lower than the pupils living in affluent areas.

But the inequalities only get deeper as children grow up, the disadvantaged start and the inequalities in early age deepen as pupils grow up. Looking at the results for the GCSE performance we see that only 42.9% of children that receive Free School Meals (FSM), an indicator of poverty, manage to achieve grades 4 or above in English and Mathematics GCSEs during 2022/23 while 71.6% of pupils that do not receive FSM manage to achieve grades 4 or above in English and Mathematics GCSEs.

And the percentages are getting lower when children living in poverty must consider getting into higher education, with the expensive tuition fees, the increased cost of living and the start of their adult life in high debt weighing on their decision to attend higher education. Only 29% of pupils eligible for FSMs at age 15 later progressed to university, compared with 49% of their better-off peers.

Higher education supports individuals to move out of poverty, and of course is one of the cornerstones that has supported poor children to have better opportunities in life, however even then children that grew up in poverty get an education degree still face a “poverty penalty”. According to linked data from DFE and HMRC for first degree graduates the median earnings of FSM graduates were 8.5 % (£2600) less than the median earnings of non-FSM graduates. And that is the case even if they manage to find a job as according to the same data FSM graduates are twice as likely as the non-FSM graduates to be in a non-sustained employment or further study.

Earnings of young (under 21 at start of course) first degree graduates by Free School Meals (FSM) eligibility, one, three and five years after graduation, UK domiciled graduates from English HE providers, 2021/22 tax year

Source: DFE

Further analysis from ONS reveals that lower proportions of FSM recipients earned more above the Living Wage than non-recipients at the age of 25. At age 25 years, 23.0% of FSM recipients were matched to an outcome and had recorded earnings above the Living Wage; 43.5% of non-recipients had earnings above the Living Wage. But the results were more concerning when we look at the proportion of individuals that didn’t record any earnings, with FSM recipients being twice as likely not to record any earnings at the age of 25 compared to non-FSM recipients.

As it was the case for me, the same is for many other children growing up in poverty. Taking a degree doesn't guarantee you a job. First and foremost is about at which university you are studying, as children from low socioeconomic background are less likely to attend prestigious universities, like Oxford and Cambridge. Then it is about how you sell yourself, how you speak in an interview, how you promote yourself, the key words that you have to mention, all the non-working experience that you need to have, which the children living in poverty never got exposed to and never had anyone to guide them through the system. Which is one of the reasons that a degree doesn’t guarantee them a job and most of the time they have to put extra effort when it comes to career progression.

But education, employment and soft skills are not the only disadvantages that children living in poverty face. deterioration in physical and mental health is another factor that leaves a mark on their future progression. Parents are struggling to make ends meet and provide the children with nutritious food, as it is nearly 3 times more expensive than less nutritious food. Leading families to consume less nutritious food and high in calories that leads to obesity. Rates of obesity and severe obesity in children living in the most income deprived areas entering Reception and Year 6 are rising, while the rates are decreasing in the least income deprived areas in England.

Access to healthy food is not the only issue as children living in poverty also have less access to the medical care that they need. For example, there are fewer GPs per population in more deprived areas. But also, there is the cost of attending a GP appointment. Families have reported missing paediatric appointments because of the financial cost of attending one due to travel, parking, childcare costs, and potential loss in earnings, estimated to be an average of £50. Children living in poverty are significantly more likely to suffer from acute and long-term illness. They are significantly more likely to require hospital admission and were 72% more likely than other children to be diagnosed with a long-term illness.

The pathobiology of poverty in childhood

Source: Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

But physical health is not the only problem that children living in poverty face, they face everyday challenges that overwhelm their mental health and affect their future outcomes. Not able to afford to go to social events or sports clubs, go on holiday, or go on school trips. You might feel left out. You might be lacking basic things like electricity, or hot, clean water – leading to poor hygiene (dirty clothes, hair etc). You may end up being bullied, or possibly becoming a bully. People might make fun of you, and you might be bullied because you can’t afford clothes or have a dirty uniform. Children living in the poorest 20% of households in the UK are four times more likely to develop a mental disorder as those from the wealthiest 20%.

Undeniably growing up in poverty creates extra struggles for children to succeed in education and later on the labour market, the health disadvantages in their early years hold them back in life as well. I am not going to argue that there are no exceptions of people making up a good life and career despite their disadvantaged background, but the issue is that for a very big proportion of children growing up in poverty life will not be easy and they will have to face struggles. Deteriorating not only their personal chance for a better life, but also the opportunities for our economy to thrive as we are losing from potential human capital and fully using the wonderful talent of the individuals living in this country because of the disadvantaged background they grew up in.