‘It’s a struggle’ – the role of the school Health and Well-being Lead in supporting families in poverty
Search for other papers by Sandra Lyndon in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Carla Solvason in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Rebecca Webb in
Current site
Google Scholar
This article explores one primary school’s response to addressing poverty experienced by children and families, within a post-Covid context. It draws on a small-scale qualitative case study exploring the role of the Health and Well-being Lead (HWBL) in a primary school in a relatively affluent market town in the south-east of England. A psychoanalytical approach was taken to understand the data drawing on the researchers different situated experiences and knowledges. Participants included children, parents and staff at the school. All parent participants shared their financial challenges, which they referred to as ‘struggles’, with many relating to the impact of the cost of living and adverse unexpected events. Staff raised concerns about how cuts to support services and funding for schools had contributed to and exacerbated challenges due to long waiting lists and a lack of early intervention. The role of the HWBL was recognised by both parents and staff as an important resource within the school. Integral to this role was a non-judgemental and empathic approach, which created an open and trusting relationship with parents. Despite the apparent success of the role, it was evident that the workload and the increase in ‘struggles’ experienced by families was having an impact on both the HWBL and other staff. While we acknowledge that such a role could benefit other schools, we argue that this will only be successful and sustainable if the government also addresses the need for early intervention, funding and the workload crisis in children’s services and schools.
-
Adams, L., Coberun-Crane, S., Taylor, J. and Wilkinson, A. (2023) Pulse Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers, DfE Research report, (Accessed: 19 Jan 2024), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-impact-of-rising-costs-on-childcare-and-early-years-providers.
-
Allen, G. (2011) Early Intervention: The Next Steps, Independent Report to HMG, (Accessed: 01 Aug 2023), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-intervention-the-next-steps--2.
-
Alston, P. (2018) Statement on visit to the United Kingdom, by Professor Philip Alston, United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, (Accessed: 01 Aug 2023), https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2018/11/statement-visit-united-kingdom-professor-philip-alston-united-nations-special.
-
Andrews, J. (2023) Recovering from the Covid-19 Pandemic: Analysis of Star Assessments, Education Policy Institute and Renaissance Report, (Accessed: 23 Jun 2023), https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/RecoveringFromTheCovid19PandemicMay2023.pdf.
-
BERA (British Educational Research Association) (2018) Ethical guidelines for educational research, (Accessed: 19 Jan 2024), https://www.bera.ac.uk/resources/all-publications/resources-for-researchers.
-
Blair, T. (1999) Beveridge revisited: a welfare state for the 21st century, in R. Walker (ed) Ending Child Poverty, Bristol: Policy Press.
-
Boddy, J., Statham, J., Warwick, I., Hollingworth, K. and Spencer, G. (2016) What kind of trouble? Meeting the health needs of ‘Troubled Families’ through intensive family support, Social Policy and Society, 15(2): 275–88. doi: 10.1017/s1474746415000494
-
Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2013) Successful Qualitative Research: A Practical Guide for Beginners, London: Sage.
-
Burgess, R. (1984) In the Field: An Introduction to Field Research, London: Unwin Hyman.
-
Chase, E. and Walker, R. (2012) The co-construction of shame in the context of poverty: beyond a threat to the social bond, Sociology, 47(4): 739–54. doi: 10.1177/0038038512453796
-
Child Poverty Act (2010) c.9., (Accessed: 06 Jun 2023), https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/9/contents.
-
Child Poverty Action Group (nd) Who is at risk of poverty?, (Accessed: 01 Aug 2023), https://cpag.org.uk/child-poverty/who-risk-poverty.
-
Churchill, H. (2013) Retrenchment and restructuring: family support and children’s services reform under the coalition, Journal of Children’s Services, 8: 193–206. doi: 10.1108/jcs-05-2013-0020
-
Clark, A. (2017) Listening to Young Children: A Guide to Understanding and Using the Mosaic Approach, 3rd edn, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
-
Cooper, K. and Stewart, K. (2021) Does household income affect children’s outcomes? A systematic review of the evidence, Child Indicators Research, 14: 981–1005. doi: 10.1007/s12187-020-09782-0
-
Costley, C., Elliott, G. and Gibbs, P. (2010) Doing Work-based Research, Approaches to Enquiry for Insider Researchers, London: Sage.
-
Department of Health and Social Care and DfE (Department for Education) (2017) Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision: A Green Paper, (Accessed: 07 Dec 2023), https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/664855/Transforming_children_and_young_people_s_mental_health_provision.pdf.
-
Department of Health and Social Care and DfE (Department for Education) (2023) Collections: Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, (Accessed: 01 Aug 2023), https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme.
-
DfE (Department for Education) (2013) Sure Start Children’s Centres Statutory Guidance, Report, London: Department for Education, (Accessed: 01 Aug 2023), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sure-start-childrens-centres.
-
DfE (Department for Education) (2019) Number of children’s centres, 2003 to 2019, (Accessed: 1 Aug 2023), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/number-of-childrens-centres-2003-to-2019.
-
DfE (Department for Education) (2021) Guidance: Senior Mental Health Lead training, (Accessed: 05 Dec 2023), https://www.gov.uk/guidance/senior-mental-health-lead-training.
-
DfE (Department for Education) (2022a) Education recovery support guidance, (Accessed: 23 Jun 2023), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-recovery-support/education-recovery-support--2.
-
DfE (Department for Education) (2023) State of the Nation 2022: Children and Young People’s Well Being, Research Report, (Accessed: 23 Jun 2023), https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1134596/State_of_the_nation_2022_-_children_and_young_people_s_wellbeing.pdf.
-
Drayton, E., Farquharson, C., Ogden, K., Sibieta, L., Tahir, I. and Waltmann, B. (2022) Annual Report on Education Spending in England: 2022, Institute for Fiscal Studies, (Accessed: 30 Jun 2023), https://ifs.org.uk/publications/annual-report-education-spending-england-2022.
-
DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) (2010) Universal Credit: Welfare that Works, (Accessed: 7 Dec 2017), https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/48897/universal-credit-full-document.pdf.
-
DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) (2023) Households below average income: an analysis of the UK income distribution: FYE 1995 to FYE 2022, (Accessed: 12 Jun 2023), https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2022/households-below-average-income-an-analysis-of-the-uk-income-distribution-fye-1995-to-fye-2022#children-in-low-income-households.
-
Education Wales (2021) Framework on Embedding a Whole-school Approach to Emotional and Mental Well-being, Guidance document, (Accessed: 07 Dec 2023), https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2021-03/framework-on-embedding-a-whole-school-approach-to-emotional-and-mental-well-being.pdf.
-
Edwards, A., Gharbi, R., Berry, A. and Duschinsky, R. (2021) Supporting and Strengthening Families Through Provision of Early Help, National Children’s Bureau, London and Belfast: University of Cambridge, University of Kent, (Accessed: 21 Jul 2023), https://www.ncb.org.uk/resources/all-resources/filter/early-years/supporting-and-strengthening-families-through-early-help.
-
Francis-Devine, B. (2023) Poverty in the UK: Statistics, (Accessed: 17 Jul 2023), https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn07096/.
-
Frosh, S. and Baraitser, L. (2008) Psychoanalysis and psychosocial studies, Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society, 13(4): 346–65. doi: 10.1057/pcs.2008.8
-
Gov.UK (2023a) Schools, pupils and their characteristics, Academic year 2022/23, (Accessed: 05 Dec 2023), https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.
-
Gov.UK (2023b) Press release: Government funding boost kickstarts delivery of historic new free childcare offers, (Accessed: 17 Jul 2023), https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-funding-boost-kickstarts-delivery-of-historic-new-free-childcare-offers.
-
Gov.UK (2023c) How we’re helping look after the mental health of children and young people, Education Hub blog, (Accessed: 06 Dec 2023), https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/10/10/how-were-helping-look-after-the-mental-health-of-children-and-young-people/.
-
Harari, D., Francis-Devine, B., Bolton, P. and Keep, M. (2023) Rising cost of living in the UK, Research briefing, House of Commons Library, (Accessed: 21 Jul 2023), https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9428/.
-
Harding, C., Wheaton, B. and Butler, A. (2017) Childcare survey 2017, Family Childcare Trust, (Accessed: 01 Aug 2023), https://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/childcare-survey-2017.
-
HCCPA (House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts) (2018) Universal Credit: Sixty-fourth Report of Session 2017–19, (Accessed: 19 Jan 2024), https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmpubacc/1183/1183.pdf.
-
HCL (House of Commons Library) (2023) The Pupil Premium (England), (Accessed: 05 Dec 2023), https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06700/.
-
HCPPA (House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts) (2023) Education recovery in schools in England: fifty-fifth report of the session 2022–23, (Accessed: 15 Jun 2023), https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/40220/documents/196416/default/.
-
HM Government (2021) The Best Start for Life: A Progress Report on Delivering the Vision, (Accessed: 21 Jul 2023), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-best-start-for-life-a-progress-report-on-delivering-the-vision.
-
HM Government and Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition (2021) Promoting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, (Accessed: 07 Dec 2023), https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/614cc965d3bf7f718518029c/Promoting_children_and_young_people_s_mental_health_and_wellbeing.pdf.
-
Hollway, W. and Jefferson, T. (2013) Doing Qualitative Research Differently: A Psychological Approach, 2nd edn, London: Sage.
-
Holt, L. and Murray, L. (2021) Children and Covid-19 in the UK, Children’s Geographies, 20(4): 487–94. doi: 10.1080/14733285.2021.1921699
-
Joseph Rowntree Trust (2017) Poverty and Ethnicity in the Labour Market, Report, (Accessed: 01 Aug 2023), https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/poverty-ethnicity-labour-market.
-
Levitas, R. (2012) There may be ‘trouble’ ahead: what we know about those 120,000 ‘troubled families’, Policy Response Series No. 3, (Acccessed: 01 Aug 2023), http://www.poverty.ac.uk/policy-response-working-papers-families-social-policy-life-chances-children-parenting-uk-government.
-
Lister, R. (2004) Poverty, Cambridge: Policy Press.
-
Lister, R. (2015) To count for nothing: poverty beyond the statistics, Journal of the British Academy, 3: 139–65.
-
Lyndon, S. (2019a) Early Years Practitioners’ Narratives of Poverty in Early Childhood, EdD Thesis, Brighton: University of Sussex, (Accessed: 01 Aug 2023), https://hdl.handle.net/10779/uos.23465291.v1.
-
Lyndon, S. (2019b) Troubling discourses of poverty in early childhood in the UK, Children & Society, 33(6): 602–9. doi: 10.1111/chso.12354
-
Lyndon, S. (2019c) Tangled narratives of poverty in early childhood: othering, work, welfare and curveballs, Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 27(3): 389–405. doi: 10.1332/175982719x15626279221341
-
Lyndon, S. (2022) Recognising and surviving poverty within early years practice, in C. Solvason and R. Webb (eds) Exploring and Celebrating the Early Childhood Practitioner: An Interrogation of Pedagogy, Professionalism and Practice, London: Routledge.
-
McGregor-Smith, R. (2017) Race in the Workplace: The McGregor-Smith Review, (Accessed: 14 Jul 2023), https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/race-in-the-workplace-the-mcgregor-smith-review.
-
Millar, J. and Ridge, T. (2013) Lone mothers and paid work: the family-work project, International Review of Sociology, 23(3): 564–77. doi: 10.1080/03906701.2013.856161
-
NAHT (National Association of Head Teachers) (2022) The Cliff Edge: The Nation’s Underfunded and Overstretched School Budgets, report, (Accessed: 01 Aug 2023), https://www.naht.org.uk/Our-Priorities/Our-policy-areas/Policy-research/ArtMID/591/ArticleID/1894/NAHT-survey-shows-the-majority-of-schools-in-England-are-looking-at-redundancies-due-to-the-funding-crisis.
-
NatCen (2022) British Social Attitudes 39, (Accessed: 19 Jul 2023), https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/latest-report/british-social-attitudes-39/introduction.aspx.
-
Ofsted (2023) Official Statistics: Childcare providers and inspections as at 31 March 2023, (Accessed: 17 Jul 2023), https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-providers-and-inspections-as-at-31-march-2023.
-
Patel, U. (2022) The economic consequences of the Ukraine war for UK household incomes, (Accessed: 14 Jun 2023), https://www.niesr.ac.uk/publications/economic-consequences-ukraine-war-uk-household-incomes?type=uk-economic-outlook-box-analysis.
-
Pro Bono Economics (2022) Stopping the Spiral: Children and Young People’s Services Spending 2010–11 to 2020–21, (Accessed: 23 Jun 2023), https://media.actionforchildren.org.uk/documents/CSOC03_-_Childrens_Services_Funding_Alliance_Final_1.pdf.
-
Rabindrakumar, S. (2018) One in Four: A Profile of Single Parents in the UK, Gingerbread, (Accessed: 01 Aug 2023), https://www.gingerbread.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/One-in-four-a-profile-of-single-parents-in-the-UK.compressed.pdf.
-
Ridge, T. (2011) The everyday costs of poverty in childhood: a review of qualitative research exploring the lives and experiences of low-income children in the UK, Children & Society, 25(1): 73–84. doi: 10.1111/j.1099-0860.2010.00345.x
-
Riessman, C. (2008) Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences, London: Sage.
-
Rogers, C. (1959) Significant learning: in therapy and in education, Educational Leadership, 16: 232–42.
-
Rutter, J. (2015) Childcare costs survey 2015, (Accessed: 21 Jan 2023), https://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/childcare-survey-2015.
-
Simpson, D. (2013) Remediating child poverty via preschool: exploring practitioners’ perspectives in England, International Journal of Early Years Education, 21(1): 85–96. doi: 10.1080/09669760.2013.771327
-
Social Mobility Commission [SMC] (2021) State of the Nation 2021: Social Mobility and the Pandemic, Policy paper, (Accessed: 15 Jun 2023), https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1003977/State_of_the_nation_2021_-_Social_mobility_and_the_pandemic.pdf.
-
Solvason, C., Webb, R. and Sutton-Tsang, S. (2020a) Evidencing the Effects of Maintained Nursery Schools’ Roles in Early Years Sector Improvements, TACTYC (Association for Professional Development in Early Years), (Accessed: 01 Aug 2023), https://tactyc.org.uk/research/.
-
Solvason, C., Webb, R. and Sutton-Tsang, S. (2020b) What is left…?: The implications of losing maintained nursery schools for vulnerable children and families in England, Children and Society, 35(1): 75–89.
-
Taylor, R. (2021) Covid-19: impact on child poverty and on young people’s education, health and well being, (Accessed: 19 Jan 2024), https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/covid-19-impact-on-child-poverty-and-on-young-peoples-education-health-and-wellbeing/.
-
The Children’s Society (2023) The Good Childhood Report 2022, (Accessed: 19 Jan 2024), https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/information/professionals/resources/good-childhood-report-2023.
-
The House (2023) Revealed: the postcode lottery in child and mental adolescent mental health care, (Accessed: 21 Jan 2024), https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/child-adolescent-mental-health-care-crisis.
-
The Trussell Trust (2022) The true cost of living: the action needed to stem the rising tide of destitution: March 2022, (Accessed: 17 Jul 2023), https://www.trusselltrust.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/03/The-true-cost-of-living.pdf.
-
Thomas, G. (2016) How to Do your Case Study, 2nd edn, London: Sage.
-
Tyler, I. (2013) Social Abjection and Resistance in Neoliberal Britain: Revolting Subjects, London: Zed Books.
-
UK Parliament (2022) Children in Crisis: The Role of Public Services in Overcoming Child Vulnerability, 1st Report of Session 2021–22, (Accessed: 21 Jul 2023), https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/7881/documents/81834/default/.
-
Walker, R. and Solvason, C. (2014) Success with Your Early Years Research Project, London: Sage.
-
Welsh Government (2023) Whole-school approach to emotional and mental well being, Research bulletin, (Accessed: 07 Dec 2023), https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/statistics-and-research/2023-11/whole-school-approach-to-emotional-and-mental-wellbeing-research-bulletin.pdf.
-
Welshman, J. (2006) From the cycle of deprivation to social exclusion: five continuities, The Political Quarterly, 77(4): 475–84. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-923x.2006.00820.x
Search for other papers by Sandra Lyndon in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Carla Solvason in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by Rebecca Webb in
Current site
Google Scholar
| May 2022 onwards | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 985 | 918 | 29 |
| Full Text Views | 207 | 202 | 12 |
| PDF Downloads | 214 | 207 | 25 |
Institutional librarians can find more information about free trials here
We are a leading social science publisher
committed to making a difference.
Bristol University Press and
Policy Press
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk