Daily roundup: child poverty, reading habits and autism support
Neil Puffett
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Child poverty could rise by 800,000 by 2020 warn Oxfam; reading for pleasure link to child academic achievement; and teachers struggle to access autism support, all in the news today.
A further 800,000 children will be plunged into poverty as a result of the government’s austerity policies, a report has warned. The Mirror reports that a study by Oxfam found that George Osborne’s cuts and tax rises are “massively increasing” inequality in the UK. It found that by 2020 there will an additional 800,000 children - up from 2.3 million at present - living below the breadline.
Children who read for pleasure are likely to do better in maths and English researchers have found. The BBC reports that a study by the Institute of Education found that reading for pleasure was more important to a child's development than how educated their parents were. The reading habits of 6,000 children were examined for the study.
A third of teachers in England surveyed by Ambitious About Autism said it has become harder in the last 12 months to access specialist support for children with autism. At the same time the number of children whose SEN statement lists autism as a primary need has increased by 6.5 per cent since 2012, the charity says. The survey, the results for which are included in the charity's annual School's Report, also found that 60 per cent of teachers do not feel they have had adequate training to teach children with autism.
Four children’s centres in Swindon are to close after politicians in the borough rubberstamped a £380,000 funding cut, the BBC reports. The council said 80 per cent of the £2m budget for the remaining 10 centres would be spent in areas serving the most vulnerable families.
The Child Poverty Action Group has launched a campaign to highlight the plight of families on modest incomes. CPAG has sent a letter to the leaders of the main political parties asking them to reject misleading stereotypes of benefit claimants and instead focus on the needs of ordinary families on benefits. The campaign is supported by new polling that shows two-thirds of the public think the government doesn't understand the concerns of people on low and middle incomes.
And finally, Kath Tunstall is stepping down as children's services director at Bradford Council at the end of the year. Tunstall, who has been DCS for seven years at the Yorkshire council, told the Telegraph and Argus that the time was right to move on to other projects. The council said the recruitment process to find a replacement would begin shortly.