Bloomsbury Education Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools Understand more deeply and better address inequalities in your school.

by Katrina Morley, Unknown Author

Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools Understand more deeply and better address inequalities in your school ABISBOOK Bloomsbury Education.

272 pages, Paperback

Published March 13, 2025

Reviews

[Barbara Band · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools is a practical guide for educators that aims to address the impact of poverty on students and foster equity and inclusion within schools. The book has three strands – Tackling Poverty across the Whole School, Tackling Poverty in the Classroom and Tackling Poverty in Other Ways – each broken down into chapters that follow the same structure. Opening with a chapter summary, recent research is considered with key points and takeaways followed by case studies and ideas to try before chapter takeaways and a recap and suggested reflective tasks. This structure and the layout of the book make it accessible and engaging. There is also a very useful table of suggested reading strands depending on your role within the school, for example, teachers and other adults working in classroom settings may want to focus on chapters 1,6, 7, 8 and 9.

The latter looks at ‘Reading and Literacy’ and, whilst there are many other chapters in the book of relevance to the work of school librarians, such as working with displaced students, building a school culture of social justice, the impact of poverty on brain development, and partnership collaboration, it was this chapter (9) I was most interested in. The research is up-to-date and the ideas to try such as involving students in the library, ensuring class visits for independent reading and championing reading through whole-school events are tried and tested. One point made, that is often not considered but extremely relevant to supporting reading, is to understand local library provision and track trends in library use.

With its blend of research, case studies and actionable strategies, Tackling Poverty and Disadvantage in Schools is an extremely readable and useful book – an excellent and important addition to the staff library.