socio economic barriers to learning affect hundreds of children around the world, hence children drop out due to limited support they get in schools and from the society at large.These barriers need to be addressed so that learners can learn without limitations.

1. Y A S M I N O M A R
N A N C Y M A B A S O
SOCIO ECONOMIC
BARRIERS TO LEARNING

2. WHAT ARE SOCIO-ECONOMIC
BARRIERS?
• Effective learning is influenced by the availability of
educational resources to meet society’s needs
• In many countries, there are inadequate numbers of
centres of learning and other facilities to meet the
educational needs of the population.
• Inadequacies in provision are linked to other inequalities
in society such as
• urban/rural disparities,
• inequalities arising from discrimination on grounds such as
gender, race and disability.
• Barriers result not only from the inadequacy of provision,
but also from policies and practices which are designed
to perpetuate these inequalities.

3. WHY SHOULD EDUCATORS BE AWARE
OF THEM?
• Educators need to be in touch with the needs of
the learners
• Measures need to be placed to help learners
• Sensitivity
• School and curriculum adjustments
• Research demonstrates that students who receive
social-emotional support and prevention services
achieve better academically in school.
• Interventions that strengthen students’ social,
emotional, and decision-making skills also positively
impact their academic achievement

4. FOR THE EDUCATOR
Examples of SE-related functional impairments that affect
schoolwork include:
• An inability to learn that cannot be explained by
intellectual, sensory, or health factors;
• An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal
relationships with peers and teachers;
• Inappropriate types of behaviour or feeling under
normal circumstances;
• A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression;
and
• A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears
associated with personal or school problems.

5. ACTIVITY
•How many socio-economic
factors can you think identify?

6. LIST OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC BARRIERS
• Poverty
• Urbanisation
• Unemployment
• Moral confusion
• Abuse
• Disintegration of family life
• HIV/AIDS pandemic
• Language differences
• Cultural differences
• Street children
• Child-headed household

8. 1. POVERTY
• Often caused by unemployment and other
economic inequalities, is the inability of families to
meet basic needs such as nutrition and shelter.
• Increased emotional stress which adversely affects
learning and development
• Under-nourishment leads to a lack of concentration
and a range of other symptoms which affect the
ability of the learner to engage effectively in the
learning process.
• Poverty-stricken communities are also poorly
resourced communities

9. POVERTY
• Manifests in adverse factors like
• ill health,
• undernourishment,
• a deprivation of priviledges,
• backlogs in education,
• unsupportive environment,
• communication and language deficiencies,
• limited social status
• negative view of the future

10. CYCLE OF POVERTY
Inadequate
education
Low wages
unemployment
malnutrition
An opportunity-
deprived
existence
Technological
backwardness
overpopulation
Disadvantageous
surroundings
conflict
violence
crime
Substance abuse
Psychological
degradation

11. ACTIVITY
•What are the different things
that you as an educator can
do in your classroom or within
the school to help the child
from an impoverished
background?

12. 2. ABUSE
• Forms of abuse:
• Physical assault and injury
• Neglect – social, emotional and physical
• Psychological
• Sexual – incest, rape, sodomy, coercion
• Abandonment
• Provide more eg……..
• Causes of child abuse
• Parental factors
• Child factors
• Crisis or stress factors
• Explain how these are contributors?

13. ACTIVITY
• What are the warning signs to look
out for?
• What are the preventative actions
that can be adopted by schools?

14. PROACTIVE STRATEGIES FOR ABUSE
Schools need to be proactive in the following respects:
• Preparing children for what might happen
• Teaching children to respond under threatening or
uncomfortable situations
• Informing and training parents with knowledge and
skills
• In-service training for staff
• Creating support structures

15. REACTIVE STRATEGIES FOR ABUSE
• Remain calm
• Don’t judge
• Believe the child
• CONFIDENTIALITY
• Educators should be aware of legislature
• What are the laws regarding abuse ?
• Multidisciplinary approach – professionals
• Report to principal
• Both victim and transgressor should get professional
help

16. 3. LANGUAGE DIFFERENCES
• Anger, shame and low self esteem
• Non-involvement of parents and caregivers
• Parents and children develop in opposite directions
• Mention a few cultural differences between people
from the African and white cultures that could
cause underachievement in a lone child at school if
the others are in the majority.

17. 4. CHILD-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS
• Rise in the number of adolescent orphans either
living alone or caring for younger siblings. Why?
• Emotional vulnerabilities:
• Unresolved grief, depression
• Lack of attainable long-term goals
• Lack of self worth
• Poor internal locus of control
• Financial concerns
• Safety issues
• Fewer and loss of key documents e.g. IDs, birth
certificates etc. needed for accessing social
services.

18. WHAT CAN EDUCATORS DO?
• A teacher in Cape Town had a new learner from Limpopo
province who was Venda speaking and spoke no English.
The teacher could not speak Venda, but rather than
allowing the learner to languish, she chose to allow him to
teach the class enough of his mother tongue so that they
could all communicate a little bit. The learners got excited
about discovering a new language. This led the teacher
doing a unit on Limpopo, complete with a wall-size relief
mural of the province. The end result was that the Venda-
speaking learner was treated as a valued part of the class.
He was able to contribute the richness of his culture while
learning about his new home.
• Think about alternative ways of accommodating learners in
a similar situation in your class, taking into consideration the
home language, the level of academic development, etc.