Letters: When it comes to poverty, we must focus on the individuals

I worked within a structure that used the most blunt instruments, like free school meal percentages, to allocate funds to support deprived locations but most importantly, not struggling individual families.

What mattered for the education and children services managers was the percentages, not the humans. Being poor in Dunblane and Linlithgow was a most isolating experience for children. From their first day in education their confidence suffered, and their attainment suffered. They were a huge minority without a voice.

Facing the difficulties of financial hardship is heart-breaking in any area but if you live without community attachment and support it is doubly hard.

Hopefully Professor McKendrick’s study will awaken the Government and councils to the fact that we do not live in homogenously rich and poor areas.

I worked and tried my best to change things in my own way but sadly failed and that still bothers me. For all the child-centred philosophy, policies and posters that adorn school corridors we still focus on the numerical averages and not the individual families.

David A MacKenzie,

12 Torridon Place, Kinross.

THE research on child poverty undertaken by Glasgow Caledonian University makes clear that no assumptions can be made; Professor John McKendrick and his team found intense child poverty existed even in areas of Scotland considered to be affluent.

It is totally unacceptable that any child, wherever they live, should have to cope with the miseries of poverty, and Professor McKendrick’s report confirms the stark realities of life for growing numbers of families in Scotland.

We know that there is an increase in the use of food banks, we know there is “summer hunger” facing children whose main meals are provided at school, and who, instead of welcoming school holidays have been found distraught at the end of term, wondering how and when they will be fed.

It is an abomination that in 21st century, oil-rich Scotland, there are children going to bed hungry, children who have few toys and who have never enjoyed a day at the seaside, let alone a holiday. And one of the most corrosive things about poverty is that it can destroy a person’s sense of worth and self-confidence, for life.

The Scottish Government has protected more than half a million Scottish households from UK Government cuts to council tax benefit, and the Child Poverty Bill which was passed by Holyrood at the end of last year is an important step forward.

The Baby Boxes, increasing free child care to help mothers back to work, free school meals and the Scottish Welfare Fund are all helpful tools, but Professor McKendrick points out that the “most powerful tools” for tackling poverty lies with the UK Government, which sets tax and welfare payments.

Scotland needs full control over tax and welfare, because while Westminster holds the purse strings, child poverty will never be ended by the UK Government.

Our children are our future, and the future of Scotland’s children should be in Scotland’s hands.

Ruth Marr,

99 Grampian Road,

Stirling.

I FOUND the reported comments by Mark Priestley, professor of education at Stirling University as insightful as they are refreshingly candid (“Warning over Government’s ‘narrow focus’ on closing attainment gap”, The Herald, March 16).

He reminds us that “ the school is only a very small part of the lives of children”.

For many young people, the weighty target of studying, never mind passing, around five Higher Grade subjects by the time they leave school must seem an overwhelming and unrealistic expectation of them.

Far from being an attainable challenge in their formative years, pupils will often appear to be so demotivated they give up hope entirely, staring despairingly at a precipice to climb with sometimes no safety rope from a dysfunctional home.

I view the real issue emerging from The Herald exam league table published in the same edition (“Schools from across west of Scotland dominate Herald’s exam league tables”, The Herald, March 16), is that schools are only judged annually on certain pupils’ attainment in leaving qualifications, usually leading to university entrance. I consider it more helpful that schools should be required to assist all senior pupils to format a personal development plan extending up to around the age of 26 and then, how incrementally successful the plan was could be assessed.

Achieving Highers to get into a university is not an end in itself. Personal targets have to be adaptable to changing opportunities, “what if’s” and circumstances such as for example, an early marriage/family, redundancy and changes in employment demands.

Young people can both under and over-estimate their potential in any field of activity or study. It is almost impossible to accurately predict human potential but all young people should be able to leave school with a flexible route plan charting alternative ways ahead such that they feel they are a success in life.

All our educational agencies seem to me to be lacking a joined-up and effective after-sales service if all we can celebrate is the crème de la crème.

Schools must find it a little difficult to remind pupils that successful people like Richard Branson, Simon Cowell, Lord Alan Sugar and the broadcaster Jon Snow all did rather poorly at school by the attainment standards we seem to now only judge school success by.

One thing is certain to me, however. The schools which do not appear in the league table of so-called “top schools” should not think any less of themselves.They are very likely to appear on any table of success in the added value they have contributed to pupils for their chances of success in the difficult world they often live in.

Bill Brown,

46 Breadie Drive,

Milngavie.