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 To equip teachers with skills to teach the poverty dimension (6.6 and 6.7) of the Social Skills Elective  To introduce and utilise a resource: Ireland- A Level Playing Pitch? aimed at exploring and analysing poverty in Ireland, making it applicable to the social studies elective.  To demonstrate methodologies that will help in teaching poverty and can be adapted for use across the syllabus (links to other sections of course)

This approach to teaching Poverty proposes; Creating a safe environment, Applying an incremental approach starting with learners ideas about poverty to agreeing definitions, looking at facts, analysing causes and exploring statutory, voluntary and community responses.

 Set up ground rules  Preparation and planning of teacher is important  Teacher facilitates the discussion  Methodologies for managing discussion  Use of interesting methodologies

Labelling Exercise

How to introduce the idea to your class Divide into small groups Show photographs that say something about poverty and wealth Summarise on board

People sleeping rough, living on the streets or in shelters may experience absolute poverty. This means they are living without proper shelter, food, clothing or medical care.

 In Ireland and other developed countries, poverty is more usually called relative poverty. In this case, people are considered to be living in poverty if their standard of living is substantially less than the general standard of living in society.

 The government’s National Anti-Poverty Strategy reflects this: “People are living in poverty if their income and resources (material, cultural and social) are so inadequate as to preclude them from having a standard of living that is regarded as acceptable by Irish society generally. As a result of inadequate income and resources, people may be excluded and marginalised from participating in activities that are considered the norm for other people”.

 To set the poverty line, income is related to incomes in society at large. Currently it is 60% of median income(the median is the mid-point on the scale of incomes in Ireland). In 2006, this was an income of below € a week for an adult

 This means having an income below 60% of the median and is also experiencing enforced deprivation. This means being on a low income and not being able to afford basic necessities such as new clothes, not having the money to buy food such as meat or fish, not being able to heat your home, or having to go into debt to pay ordinary household bills. Source: Combat Poverty Agency Website accessed January 2008

 Poverty in Ireland is measured by the Central Statistics Office. Two measurements, consistent poverty and at risk of poverty are used.  The most recent data on poverty in Ireland is from the 2006 EU Survey of Income and Living conditions(EU-SILC) Consistent Poverty 7% 292,550 people At Risk of Poverty 17% 720,770 people Poverty Threshold (60% of median income) € per adult per week

At Risk of Poverty Consistent Poverty Total Population17%7% Lone Parent Families40%33% Unemployed people44%23% Ill or Disabled People41%20% Children (under 14)20%11% Foreign Nationals24%9% Older People (65+)14%2%

 Group work  2 newspaper articles (Irish times 2006)  Read and identify causes and effects of poverty for your person  Summarise on board under headings  Leads to discussion on causes and effects of poverty

 Structural: systems and patterns e.g. Economic, political, social and cultural  Multi dimensional and interconnected  Form of Welfare state e.g. Contingent on needs versus rights  State Policy  Taxation – income, expenditure, wealth e.g assets, property, profits.  Social Expenditure – Levels and Priorities  Redistribution of resources/wealth e.g. Taxation, social welfare and social services

 Sometimes used interchangeably with ‘Poverty Cycles’  Sometimes refers to policies that may work against certain groups taking up employment because of loss of ‘supplementary’ benefits e.g. Medical card  Or policies oriented towards supporting certain groups into employment but which neglect to address core issues e.g. Provision of affordable quality childcare for single mothers

 Written exercise for pairs/individual students  to make them think about responses needed to tackle poverty  who needs to respond

 National Action Plan Against Poverty and Social Exclusion( )  National Development Plan (2007–2013)  Towards 2016 – Social Partnership Agreement  Combat Poverty Agency  Office for Social Inclusion

 ‘Poverty proof’ all government policy to ensure they do not disadvantage some groups and to ensure that they contribute to tackling poverty; build in ongoing monitoring to ensure implementation and positive impact  Build in targets, timeframes, adequate resources; implementation structures  Ensure that policies are ‘joined up’  Ensure clear links between national and local/regional roll out of policies  Support and involve people affected by poverty and organisations that represent them in all stages; resource this engagement

 Community Development Support Programme  RAPID and CLAR  Family and Community Services Resource Centres  Local Development Social Inclusion Programme  Activation and Family Support Programme  Back to Work; back to Education/Training; VTOS

 Department of Social and Family Affairs.  Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.   Ireland- A Level Playing Pitch?  Left Outside  Financial Exclusion  Silent People  Research Series

 Types of Organisations  Types of Responses - Services - Empowerment - Policy/Advocacy  Community Development  State Sponsored Programmes  Strengths  Challenges

 Combat Poverty Agency, Bridgewater Centre, Islandbridge, Dublin 8 Telephone

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