Nearly a third of pupils eligible for free school meals say cost is an important factor when choosing GCSE subjects, while nearly a quarter say it has prevented them from choosing a more expensive subject, new research has found.
A report by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) warned that disadvantaged pupils are being “cut off from opportunities just as the foundations of their futures are being laid”.
The group has called for the government to scrap the two-child benefit cap in order to achieve its “moral mission” to reduce child poverty.
Nearly a third take cost into account
An online poll of 1,701 UK secondary school students found 29 per cent of pupils receiving free school meals (FSM) said the cost of taking a particular subject is important when choosing their GCSEs, compared to 11 per cent of pupils not receiving FSM.
GCSE subject costs can include fieldwork trips, an exchange or language learning trip, learning to play an instrument for music or buying ingredients for food and nutrition studies or extra equipment for PE.
Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of poorer pupils said the cost or worries of cost has prevented them from choosing a subject to study, compared to 9 per cent of non-FSM pupils.
The survey found more than a third of FSM children said it was difficult to afford school trips, and more than a quarter said it was difficult to afford musical instruments, at 34 per cent and 27 per cent respectively.
‘Moral mission’
Kate Anstey, head of education policy at CPAG, said “children in struggling families are going back to school only to be bounced out of some subjects and learning by costs – cut off from opportunities just as the foundations of their futures are being laid”.
CPAG has called for the government’s forthcoming child poverty strategy to “invest in family incomes and children’s life chances”, including by scrapping the two-child benefit limit.
The government extended the free school meal scheme to all families on universal credit in June.
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