Education and income: our position

Household income is the strongest predictor of how well a child will achieve in education. Poverty holds children back and stops children from thriving at school.

We believe that the most effective way to help children have better school experiences and get on at school is by investing in our social security system, so that families are better off to start with. Classroom interventions can never fully solve differences outside the school gates.

But we know that schools can, and do, work to tackle some of the effects of poverty and support children to fulfil their potential. School is where most children spend a significant portion of their time, learning and developing. Time at school is formative, affecting childhoods and children’s life chances. We believe that schools' approaches to poverty and better education policies can change children and young people's lives for the better.

As CPAG's education team, we:

• work to understand how poverty affects school life and what changes are needed to improve it
• carry out extensive research with children and families
• analyse education policies and school costs
• lead on issues related to child poverty in the education sector
• advise schools and education professionals about how to support children and families so that poverty has less of an impact on their time at school.