Psychosocial Perspective in Education

School of Advance Studies

Professor: Dr. Fajardo Discussant: Joy Mariette B. Cristo MaEd English

POVERTY
Objectives:
Definition: "Refers to the condition, in which the
basic needs of human beings are not being met
To explore the extent of poverty in the Philippines
and people lack the necessary food, clothing, or
To determine the cause and effects of poverty
shelter to survive, can be distinguished from
relative poverty, which has been defined as the To view poverty in a different way by understanding
inability of a citizen to participate fully in the people under poverty line
economic terms in the society in which he or she To relate poverty in some of the sociological
lives." perspectives
Source:http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/poverty

In 2012, extreme poverty in the

Philippines was estimated at
19.2 percent of the population,
or about 18.4 million people.
Most of the poor in the
Philippines live in rural areas
and work in agriculture sector,
mainly farming and fishing.
Urban poverty, however, has
been increasing in recent years.
The Poverty Line (Food and Poverty Threshold)
Migrants without jobs or with
During the first semester of 2015, a family of five needed at least low-paying jobs are unable to
PhP 6,365 on the average every month to meet the familys basic
food needs and at least PhP 9,140 on the average every month to afford decent housing. As a
meet both basic food and non-food needs. These amounts result, Philippine cities have
represent the monthly food threshold and monthly poverty
threshold, respectively. They indicate increases of about 17 high proportions of informal
percent in food threshold and poverty thresholds from the first
semester of 2012 to the first semester of 2015 settlers who are among the
poorest of the poor.
 Causes of Poverty
Poverty and Child
Lack of proper education
Low to moderate economic
growth for the past 40 years
Development
Low growth elasticity of poverty
reduction
Weakness in employment Poverty creates long-term disadvantages for children-
generation and the quality of emotional issues, delayed development and lower
jobs generated academic achievement, among others- put a child
Failure to fully develop the behind peers who do not struggle with poverty.
agriculture sector
High levels of population growth Poor children may also have challenges with social and
High and persistent levels of emotional problems like impulsiveness, disobedience and
inequality (incomes and assets), difficulty getting along with peers. And children that live
which dampen the positive in poverty are more likely to have lower academic
impacts of economic expansion achievement or even drop out of school.
Recurrent shocks and exposure to
Reference: http://www.livestrong.com/article/232889-poverty-child-
risks such as economic crisis,
development/
conflicts, natural disasters, and
environmental poverty

Effects of Poverty

Bad living conditions

Because of poverty, many families are forced

to occupy public and private lands without
the right to do so. And, because this land is
not theirs, it tends to overcrowd. Because of
overcrowding, the environment usually
becomes unsanitary and heightens the The Poverty Cycle
chances that disease will spread.

Crime and Theft

The cycle of poverty has
Due to the hardships in life caused by been defined as a
poverty, many people cant even get enough phenomenon where poor
money to live. This causes them to do families become
whatever it takes to be able to sustain their impoverished for at least
and their families need even when it involves three generations, i.e. for
stealing or any illegal actions. enough time that the family
includes no surviving
ancestors who possess and
can transmit the intellectual,
social, and cultural capital
necessary to stay out of or
change their impoverished
condition.
Poverty and
Its Impact in
Education
Negative Effects of Poverty on Education
Food deprivation that influences concentration and
development
Inadequate child-care arrangements
Difficult behaviour in students
Low self-esteem
Less motivation to learn
Illiteracy and lower achievement in school
Less participation in extra-curricular activities
Interrupted school attendance
Lower aspirations and expectations
Lower university attendance
The Philippines has over 13 million children who are living
in poverty. Millions of these children will have little
chance of going to school and getting an education.
Education is one of the countrys main problems that
need to be addressed in order to reduce the ever growing
rate of poverty.
Education Elevator to Social
Mobility
Students have an opportunity to achieve
upward mobility through achievement in
school.
One factor that is closely related to poverty
and unemployment is lack of education.
Young people who have skills and a basic
education have better luck finding a good job
than drop outs do.
Poverty is both a result and cause of poor
education. It takes a certain amount of
money to be able to afford prolonged
education; the children of poor families tend
to drop out early. But dropping only keeps
them from moving upward the social ladder.
It is a vicious cycle.
What is poverty?

Official definition government estimates each year the minimum cash income
required for families of various sizes to subsist.
Subsistence levels seeks to describe poverty objectively as the lack of enough
income to acquire the minimum necessities of life.
Powerlessness the inability to control the events that shape ones life. The poor
lack economic resources are hence largely dependent on others for the thing
they need.

Dimensions of Relative Poverty: Poverty as Social Exclusion

The Nature of Poverty
Researchers have discussed the
definition of poverty and established
the basis for its nature.

Absolute Poverty
A level of economic
deprivation that exists
when people do not have
the means to secure the
most basic necessities of life

E.g.
Often have the life
threatening consequences,
such as homeless person
freeze to death on a park
bench
The figure above illustrates this range of linked dimensions of
poverty, and how can they combine and overlap to create a social
exclusion.
Relative Poverty
A condition that exists when
people may be able to
afford basic necessities but Social Exclusion
are still unable to maintain
an average standard of It involves people being marginalized or excluded from
living participation in education, work, community life, and access to
E.g. services and other aspects of life seen as being part of a full and
Income substantially above participating member of the mainstream society. It is being cut off
the official poverty line in
order to afford the basic from what the people regard as normal life.
necessities, even when they
are purchased at the lowest
possible cost
 Dimensions of Relative Poverty
Examples of poverty apart from low income include the following:
1. Homelessness loss of home can make getting and holding down a job difficult, leading
sometimes to downward spiral
2. Poverty in healthcare many are not aware of what health services are available to them and
tend to be less vocal and articulate in demanding proper standards of care from doctors.
3. Poverty at school education can offer a way out of poverty, but public schools often have
older buildings, poor facilities, and there is often of social problems in schools, such as poor
behaviour and lack of parental support.
4. Poverty at work poor working conditions include neglect of health and safety standard and
high accident rate.
5. Environmental poverty the poor often live in neighbourhoods that lack access to many of the
essential services. They frequently live close to polluting industries and busy roads where air
quality is poor, with consequent health problems.

Here are some sociological explanations on the persistence of poverty:

These are referred as Blaming Theories where is the blame placed for poverty?

Cultural explanation refers to

the attitudes and behaviour of the
poor. MATERIAL AND STRUCTURAL EXPLANATIONS
Material and Structural The Cycle of Deprivation (Coates and Silburn, 1970)
explanation blames inadequacy
and unequal class structure.
POOR

Misused Seeing others in Eating poor Living in

CULTURAL EXPLANATIONS opportunities the society as food and living a poor
more successful in unsanitary neighbour
The Culture of the poor then themselves and hood
Give up easily overcrowded
(Oscal Lewis, 1961)
housing or
being
1. They are resigned to Lack of self - Feelings of homeless School
their situation. confidence failure and with poor
2. They have a sense of inferiority facilities
fatalism. and lack
Poor health of
3. They are reluctant to Unemployed
Time off school resources
work. or low-paid
or work;
4. They dont plan for the work
disabled; unable
future. to do heavy
5. They make little effort manual work.
to change their
situation.
6. They are marginalized. Inadequate
education