CHILDHOOD POVERTY

POVERTY IS RELATIVE POOR PEOPLE ARE PROUD AND WILL DO THEIR BEST TO HIDE POVERTY HAVING A HOUSE AND A CAR DOES NOT PRECLUDE YOUR STATUS AS BEING IN POVERTY

JOSEPH ROWNTREE FOUNDATION ‘680,000 PEOPLE LIVING IN POVERTY IN THE UK’ Source:

Half the children in poverty belong to working families. Half the improvement in the child poverty rate between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s has been lost in the last 5 years.

The Welsh Government’s new child poverty target requires the rate to fall four times as fast over the next ten years as it has over the last ten.

200,000 CHILDREN IN WALES ARE IN POVERTY As measured by low income after housing costs have been deducted.

IS THERE A SOLUTION?

There is nothing as powerful as a new idea in the hands of a first-class entrepreneur

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS AMBITIOUS AND PERSISTENT TACKLING MAJOR SOCIAL ISSUES OFFERING NEW IDEAS FOR WIDE SCALE CHANGE

Joseph Rowntree Witnessed the potato famine and extreme poverty in Ireland. A supporter of liberal values. Anxious to improve the quality of life of his employees. Provided them with a library, free education, a works magazine, a social welfare officer, a doctor, a dentist and a pension fund.

Bill Gates - Entrepreneur and Philanthropist An endowment of approximately $25 billion To improve equity in global health and learning. Providing badly needed funds for underrepresented minority college scholarships, AIDS prevention, and many other causes that are often ignored by the charitable community The Foundation has given out over $6.2 billion in grants since its inception, including over $1.2 billion dollars in 2002.

Andrew Mawson OBE - Entrepreneur and Philanthropist One of the foremost social entrepreneurs in the UK. Andrew Mawson understands the detail needed to make a community work; How the shopkeeper relates to the school and how the health centre depends on the quality of the surrounding environment. Andrew believes in the unique gifts of every individual in the community. It is the people bit that matters and this is what civil servants and politicians often fail to understand.

Many look to education as a solution, without realising the true cause or nature of the problem itself.

Can Education Solve Poverty and Child Labour? In 2011, poverty and child labour are growing problems that threaten the stability and progress of all countries in our complex global economy.

Fifth of 11-year-old pupils failing Maths and English benchmarks Source: Politicians call for serious and urgent action to turn around Wales’s failing education system after the chief inspector of Estyn’s report Source: TES Cymru 28 Jan2011

The Montessori Method A Passport To The World

Dr. Montessori discovered the child’s true nature in 1907 by observing poor young children living in very difficult social conditions. In this first Children’s House experiment in Rome, Italy, she found the combination of extreme poverty, parental ignorance and untrained teachers.

Dr. Maria Montessori Medical Doctor Scientist Anthropologist Philosopher Pedagog Teacher Mother

The Montessori method was constructed and used successfully with children from very poor backgrounds. Following its success it was used by Royal palaces, ambassadors and wealthy people for their children. Since then it has remained the prerogative of the rich except where it has been used in places like India and Africa by Philanthropists and social entrepreneurs. It has never ever been offered in Wales. One experiment in one of the worse failing schools in Manchester also proved successful. The DfE has never shown any interest in adopting any of Montessori’s ideas until now. The Welsh Assembly government is now interested in using Montessori within the foundation stage. FE and HE colleges are also interested in placing Montessori on their programmes of learning.

The Montessori Classroom Spacious Organised Freedom Child Sized Designated Areas No Teacher’s Desk No Formal Lessons Mixed Age Groups No Text Books

AREAS OF LEARNING SENSORIAL Visual Sense Tactile Sense Thermic Sense Auditory Sense Olfactory Sense Gustatory Sense Stereognostic Sense

Practical Life Preliminary Exercises Care Of The Person Care Of The Environment Grace And Courtesy Control Of Movement

LANGUAGE Oral Language Written Language Handwriting Reading Total Reading Reading Analysis Cultural Work

Mathematics Numbers Through Ten Decimal System Linear And Skip Counting Tables Of Arithmetic Passage To Abstraction Fractions

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES Taster Course Learning Assistants Course Teacher Training Course Foundation Degree Course Masters Degree Course PHD Doctorate Teacher Trainer’s Course

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Teacher Nanny - Manny Classroom Assistant Open Your Own School - Nursery U.K. Schools Worldwide Schools Aid Agencies College - University Lecturer Research Assistant

FAMOUS MONTESSORIANS Larry Page and Sergey Brin Anne Frank Jimmy Wales Jaqueline Kennedy Gabriel Garcia George Clooney Jeff Bezos Prince William and Prince Harry Julia Child P Diddy

Montessori Education Film More Information Can Be Found At