Summary:
British children who are registered for free school meals will soon benefit from a new pupil premium. The £488 premium will be added to schools’ ordinary funding in order to tackle inequalities. According to the Children’s Minister Sarah Teather the measure will solve the ongoing educational gap between rich and poor children. She claims that the economical support will help thousands of children to succeed. Besides this, other aspects of the education system should be improved too. For this reason, schools Minister Nick Gibb has proposed a "master teacher qualification”; that will hopefully raise teacher status and simplify the current system of standards.
My reaction:
I think it is a great idea that the government is helping children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Certainly, children who are registered for school lunches need this extra money, so it is a good way of fighting inequality. However, I do not see how this premium is going to improve poor children’s academic results. I mean, is money to blame for the education gap between the rich and the poor? Of course, money can buy text books and school materials but it will not change the environment in which these children are growing. If parents do not encourage them to study and teachers have low expectations on them, poor children will keep doing worse than rich children at school.
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