The relationship between poverty and deprivation, educational attainment and positive school leaver destinations in Glasgow secondary schools

Abstract

The impact of poverty and deprivation on children and their education is a major source of concern for the United Kingdom and Scottish governments. This article reports on a research project that focussed on Glasgow city secondary schools for the period 2006-2009. The project aimed to establish an association between poverty and deprivation and attainment in public examinations and also in initial leaver destinations. The project constructed a tri-partite means of measuring poverty that used Free School Meal Entitlement, the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and Staged Intervention. This measure was then compared with attainment figures and initial leaver destinations. Unsurprisingly, the research demonstrates that there is a major association between poverty and deprivation and attainment for the period. However, the research also demonstrates that there is no major association between poverty and deprivation and initial leaver destinations and that some schools serving poorer areas are particularly successful in securing a high proportion of initial leaver destinations.