Dysfunctional homes and student achievement

As part of my Ph.D studies, I am currently engrossed in reading the report drawn by the Social Mobility Commission (2017).

This report emphasises the fact that at secondary level, pupils from a low income household, make less progress than their more affluent peers. Thus, these pupils who come from a disadvantaged background, have limited opportunities of further education, at the end of year 11.

One case study school, which took part in the study,  identified material poverty as limiting low income pupils’ capacity to complete homework. This school is identified as School Five.

“The bigger barrier comes really from children not having a space at home to do the work in, they’re all sharing bedrooms, no child that I know here has their own bedroom.  Not having a space to do homework, not having the family understanding that they need to do homework”  (Social Mobility commission, page 26).

This has led me to think about John, the boy whom I talked about in previous blogs. During parents' day, his grandmother came to talk to me personally. The main thing that emerged was that due to his dysfunctional family, John is suffering mentally, and this had also impacted his academic achievement, which has taken a down turn.

In fact, John fits squarely into the quote above. The boy has no privacy whatsoever. His grandma admitted that he sleeps with her, and that he does his homework and studying on the kitchen table. HIs relationship with his mother is turbulent. He has no father. Given that John has recently lost his grandfather, on whom he looked up as a father figure,and came to our school last September, it stands to reason that the boy has been passing from one trauma to another. This past term was not the best for John, indeed.

Are psycho-social services working in schools?

The psycho-social meeting  at our school was held this week. What should have been done at the beginning of October, was done in the middle of November. My first impression was that something was not on. As the assistant head of the year 9s, with the latter being new to the school, I should have been alerted to these most sensitive cases immediately. In fact, the other way has happened.

The meeting consisted of me telling them who I know about and what I have done, in my capacity to support these students. When I told them that I should have been alerted first, especially since this is my first year as assistant head and also as the students have started a new school, I was met with blank stares.

Such meetings should be held at the beginning of every school year, so that the assistant head in charge does not stumble upon the person with problems, by chance, as has happened to me. I have come to know these students and their problems quite by chance, as I have described in my previous blogs.  Knowing about these students before would have helped in handling their cases better.

To add insult to injury, psycho-social services cannot help two particular students, as nothing else can be done for them. So what is the exact role of the prefect of discipline, counsellor and other staff? How come that other students are being deprived of their learning because these students refuse to learn. Are these students going to have to put up with these two particular students for the remaining years of their secondary education? How come this resistance about talking to John (mentioned in a previous blog)? He is already known by the psycho-social services that he has problems at home. Can he be supported? Why do I have to fill referral forms when he is already known to them?

A solution needs to be found and quickly. When I stated this opinion aloud, I was met with a wall of silence. 

Pastoral care of year 9s

As part of my duties as assistant head, I was assigned the pastoral care of the year 9s. This is a very enriching experience but also very exhausting and stressful. But what is exactly pastoral care of the students? According to Konu, Alanen, Lintonen and Rimpela (2002), it is the awareness of the health and wellbeing of students which is increasingly being attributed to school conditions, school relationships, means of fulfilment and health status.


At our school, the wellbeing of our students comes first and foremost. We value them and heed to them. However, students and their parents/guardians also have to do their bit. A case in point is a special meeting for students and their parents/guardians in which they had been warned that students must not touch each other. They must not indulge in playing with their hands. Fights were not to be tolerated.

This week was highlighted by several issues such as a couple of fights between rival gangs of students in my year 9. At my school, we pride ourselves on our efficiency. These have been dealt with swiftly and thoroughly. Students involved were given a one day exclusion. This was done to the utmost chagrin of some of the parents, who insisted, sometimes vociferously, that they had not known about these rules as they had not attended the meeting. Others threatened to go to the Education Department. They felt that it was unfair that their child, who had not started the fight, but had just retaliated, would be excluded.

In this second week at the helm of my year 9s, I also had to attend a two day course about the school finance - how it is structured, how the computer programme works and a vast array of other paraphernalia.

However, nothing beats the satisfaction when I see the smile of a student who, after talking to me, leaves the office with a smile. That surely makes my day!