Poverty and school processes

In this chapter, the authors analyse, through their evaluation of Children North East's audit process which aims to 'poverty proof the school day', the operation of poverty on the relational structures and associated actions within school. Their analysis of the poverty-proofing audit of schools carried out by Children North East is useful in helping one to understand what is missing from a policy focused on equality of opportunity. Education policy in England tends to tackle inequality by using policy centred around equality of opportunity, based on ideas of distributive justice. The authors discuss their analysis of the ways that practices in schools can be unhelpful for children who are living in poverty. They consider the actions that schools have taken to address such practices and suggest that this calls for a different kind of justice in schools – relational justice – and appropriately refocused policy.