Educational relationships and their impact on poverty

The relationship between poverty and lack of school attainment is well established (Ennals, 2005; Gregg et al., in Ridge, 2005; HM Treasury, 1999). Policy initiatives to address this have only met with partial success (Bradshaw, 2005) and many children are still trapped in a cycle of deprivation, educational underachievement and failure. This research takes the view that a positive, focussed relationship between teachers, or other adults, and pupils is likely to promote positive attitudes to school and learning which will ultimately lead to greater achievement. In this paper we explore this and the opportunities young people in poverty have for developing these educational relationships.

The theoretical framework for this research was determined by the active and interpersonal nature of an educational relationship. The personal identity constructed by children develops from social and cultural activities (Holland et al., 1998). Hence, children's views of themselves as learners are influenced by their participation in activities with others, and their opportunities and abilities to extract worthwhile practices from those experiences. Lave and Wenger (1998) suggest that a child’s learning identity is formed through their engagement in a community of practice and from the early 1990s educators have used the terms ‘communities of practice’, ‘communities of learners’ or knowledge-building communities’ when describing schools and classrooms. However Roth and Lee (2006) argue that classrooms do not meet the criteria for such communities. Pupils do not choose to be there, or have any agency in choosing their specific way of contributing; neither is there a collective intent that transcends the individual. Roth and Lee illustrate their view of authentic learning communities in village schools and community projects which acknowledge that children do much of their learning outside school boundaries (Roth and Lee, 2006). Here we argue that many out-of-school activities (which may take place beyond the school gates but also may take place in school buildings but not in school time) also meet the criteria for authentic learning communities. It has been argued (Halpern, 2002) that after home and school, groups and clubs organised in after-school hours are the most likely sources of young people’s socialisation and development. Further, in their meta-analyses of out-of-school provision in the USA, Lauer, et al. (2006) claimed that social and academic interventions could have a positive effect on academic achievement, particularly for at-risk students.

Some out-of-school time activities involve what might be called formal (though not academic) learning – i.e. they are in a one-to-one, or group context where someone (often an adult or older child) facilitates the activity which leads to some form of progression in skills or knowledge. We categorise such activities as having a learning intent as the participants often do not perceive them as formal learning, but often describe them as some form of leisure pursuit. Our argument is, however, that children learn much about how educational relationships work in these more ‘informal formal’ contexts. Who does what and how, to create opportunities for learning gives them insight into the relationships that support learning. Thus, our analytical framework draws on the strands identified by socio-cultural activity theorists (Engestrom, 2005; Cole, 1996). We use their model to clarify the roles that children experience within educational relationships, the rules that guide activities and behaviour and their descriptions relating to learning that occurs.

We argue that children who experience a diversity of educational relationships, in a range of contexts, will have a better understanding of how they work. Thus they are in a better position to use that understanding to negotiate the educational relationships that they have with teachers in school and therefore improve their access to the curriculum; better learning comes from the better relationships established to support it. We surmise that understanding how children engage in learning out of school could impact on the teacher-pupil relationship in school with the effect of improving learning. Further, if children in low income families are denied or limited in their participation of such activities then they will be further disadvantaged in their engagement with teachers and school learning. Our study therefore addresses two questions:

Our research focused on the learners themselves. The study addressed the two research questions through in-depth interviews with children living in poverty and those in more affluent circumstances. The receipt of free school meals (FSM) was used as an indicator of poverty. Whilst we acknowledge this is not an absolute indicator, children receiving free school meals are from families receiving other income support and are thus experiencing impoverished circumstances. In order to investigate age-related changes, we interviewed children from Year 6 and Year 9. Engagement with out of school activities is always, to a certain extent, a question of opportunity (this being one of the issues we wished to explore) and children living in rural areas may have a very different experience from those living in an urban context. We therefore sampled from both rural and urban contexts (although we do not report on this analysis in this paper).

In order to ensure enough children on FSM in any one year group we targeted schools with a high proportion of FSM children. Therefore all the schools were in relatively disadvantaged areas. We approached 2 primary and 2 secondary schools in one rural and one urban area. Our intended sample size of 48 (24 FSM and 24 non-FSM) split evenly between primary/secondary and rural/urban, meant we had to approach two rural secondary schools although both served similar catchments. The final sample is shown in Table 1.

The children were accessed through their schools, with letters being sent home requesting parental permission for them to be interviewed. The children, themselves, were asked if they would be willing to talk to us about what they did after school and at the weekends. Prior to the interview, we invited them to complete a map of their typical weekly activities. The map formed the focus for the interview with one activity being chosen by the interviewer for more in-depth exploration and one by the children themselves. The former was, when possible, an activity involving adults and taking place on a regular basis. The interviewer asked the child to clarify the activities represented on the map, their location; other participants; and accessibility. The children were also asked about other activities that took place in their neighbourhood in which they did not participate; and whether there were any activities that they would like to do but could not, and the reasons for that. For the focused activity we explored their reasons for participation; the extent of their engagement; the relationship with the adults involved and with the other participants; what they felt they learned from the activity and how; and whether teachers at school knew of their involvement. The young people were also asked what they did when they felt they were doing nothing.

The research gathered rich data capturing both the experiences of children engaged in out-of-school activities and the characteristics of these activities. The interviews were transcribed and the four members of the research team each analysed a cross sample. This was followed by discussion to reach common interpretations. The interviews were analysed in three ways. First, we looked at motivations for initial and continued engagement in the activity. Second, we investigated students’ perceptions of the learning that resulted from their engagement in the activities. Finally, we explored the students’ conceptualisation of the educational relationships that were experienced and the roles of the participants. Alongside this, we scrutinised differences between the experiences of children in poverty and their more affluent peers to identify possible discrepancies.

The number and range of activities in which 11 and 14 year olds engage was immediately apparent from the initial analysis of our interviews. Our sample of 26 Year 6 children engaged in 17 different ‘formal’ activities and 20 different ‘informal’ ones; the Year 9 interviewees were even more diverse; mentioning 18 ‘formal’ clubs and 31 informal activities. In this paper we report on the possible advantages for learning conferred by educational relationships in what we are calling the formal out-of-school activities. These are the activities that were organised and managed by adults and often focused on one particular type of activity, although not always. Overwhelmingly the young people stated that they enjoyed these experiences more than comparable in-school activities. This led us to explore the personal intent and motivation driving engagement in, and commitment to, out-of-school activities in order to determine the features and processes that enthuse young participants. We were also interested in how the young people conceptualised the role adults played in these activities.

The main impetus for taking part in any structured out-of-school activity appeared to involve social connections. Children were drawn into activities at the suggestion of, or with the encouragement of others. Often this was parental interest or influence.

I started football because my dad went – my dad coaches [local team] and runs football courses. (Y9 urban girl)

Football club because all the men in my family play for a football team and they’ve always wanted a boy child that’s really into football like him. (Y6 urban boy FSM )

It wasn’t me who like decided. One of my friend’s dad saw me playing football and thought I was really good and he talked to me and asked if I wanted to join, so I said yes and that’s how I got to do it. (Y6 urban girl)

Peers often had more persuasive power when the activity was less formal. For example, the pull of youth clubs and church groups was nearly always the social engagement with peers.

A few youngsters had pursued an activity from their own volition and by Year 9 more students felt they were able to make independent decisions about their out-of-school activities.

But then they started up the girls [rugby] team, so I went and joined that. So I did it basically on my own rather than as a suggestion from anyone else. ……. And my mum never made it to secondary school, cos basically they couldn’t afford it. So I have to work all on my own. I’m more independent. (Y9 rural girl)

Enjoyment was said to be the main reason for commitment to an out-of-school activity. Keeping boredom at bay by doing or learning something different was a major factor for engagement, particularly with the younger group where only 4 from a total of 26 were not engaged in some form of ‘formal’ out-of-school activity. The social advantages of wider networks were also frequently stressed. Students said that the friends they made in different contexts were in addition to school friends. Friendships were more likely to be nurtured from activities in structured formal clubs. Although it was usually the case that school friends were thought to be long standing or ‘best’ friends, it was agreed that other friends made through different networks provided fresh and broader perspectives on issues such as behaviour and priorities. In contrast, students participating in less structured activities, such as youth or church clubs, described enjoyment as spending time and having a laugh with current ‘mates’. Belonging to such peer groups was a powerful motivator.

I did do it years ago, when I was really little, but I stopped doing it, because me and my mum, at home, we were arguing a lot, and this was when I was little, so I thought, oh I’ll quit, because that’s what the arguments was coming from, cos she didn’t want me doing it. (Y9 rural girl)

Not surprisingly this was particularly the case with the younger group but practical support was often essential for the older group in terms of access.

An analysis of the learning that takes place within these formal activities reveals the value and richness of the participation and therefore reveals what is denied to those children unable to take part. It is possible to see the development of specialist vocabulary and skills and the evaluation and reward of these through local and national frames of assessment. Further analysis provides insight into the differences between these activities and those of the classroom as children discuss their attitudes towards the management of behaviour; the responsibilities they take and the understanding they have of their progress.

The vocabularies used by the children in discussing their involvement were helpful in revealing how the children were developing an expertise in the activities. Although this may seem rather obvious it was striking how children took pleasure in describing the detail of the activities that they enjoyed. J…. (a Y9 girl from a rural area) saw herself and her family as ‘sporty’ and described her involvement with swimming in great detail. Her vocabulary included flippers, snorkel, nose clip, goggles, lengths, lanes, workouts, crawl, fly back stroke, dive, stamina. A Year 6 boy, K.. used karate terms including sensei, stances, moves, tiger strike, dojo in his description of the hierarchy of skills to be acquired. His enthusiasm for the activity was clear; he cycled a long distance each week in all weathers to attend the club. A Year 9 girl, H.. discussed her drama club using the terms script, character, production, stage setting, National Youth Theatre, chorus, and described her ambition to develop a career in the theatre. She had already performed in a local festival and in amateur productions staged at a nearby provincial theatre. It is possible to see value in the acquisition of these vocabularies per se as evidence of skills and understanding that the children had acquired during the activities. Their vocabularies also however reveal more than the specific knowledge gained but also indicates their membership of a group defined through these shared vocabularies.

The skills that the children discussed reveal further outcomes of the programme of activities. Almost all the formal activities had structured systems for assessing and rewarding achievement. From within this group we heard about graded belts for karate; prizes for competitive swimming, trampoline, dancing, football, athletics and riding; national certificates for ballet and music; badges and levels awarded for achievement in the Scouts and St John’s Ambulance. Other achievement within these formal activities was marked through the completion of performances and tasks such as shows, the creation of crafts items such as puppets, displays, field trips and religious festivals. These assessments and events were further confirmation of the child’s involvement within groups. The links with adult clubs, real theatres, and national associations provide the opportunity for children to contribute to the activity at a level very difficult to achieve in the day to day activities of a school.

Many of these events and the achievement of the awards had become significant life experiences for the children that they linked to their future career aspirations in, for example, the theatre or in a sporting context. 11 year old K… had begun karate in order to provide him with the discipline that he would need to join the Army.

My dad thought it was a good idea because karate has a lot of discipline and if I want to go into the army I need discipline. …when I am 13 I’m planning to go to Army Academy. The only problem is I don’t have far to go until I leave the karate club. ... When you’re a black belt with a stripe down the middle you’re good enough to teach (Y6 urban boy FSM).

Many children anticipated their move to the adult club whether it was a netball team, a football team or the skittles club. Such transitions usually depended on age but also were possible only with the development of skills. G… aspired to play cricket at county level and achieve the same level as his father.

…being as good as my dad would be good enough….He plays for …firsts, I play for the under 15s. (Y9 boy)

Two striking aspects of the children engagement with these out of school formal activities were the ways in which children were making genuine contributions to the activities through the responsibilities that they took, and second, their level of understanding and articulation of what they had learnt. A… (Y9) played for a men’s skittle team and worked alongside two teams as the ‘sticker upper’. He was occupied by these skittle activities three nights a week. C .. explained how the children who attended his rugby club were given responsibility for aspects of the training including we decide what happens for the last ten minutes of the training sessions (Y9 boy). In the dance clubs that C… (Y6) attended the children were able to choreograph short sections of their performance. As many of these activities were sports the children regularly played in matches against other local teams.

When asked what they had learnt, their typical responses were articulate and insightful. G….explained some of the skills that he had learnt in cricket:

The coach has helped me with my bowling because I used to bowl with a massive run up and bowl quick, but I’ve slowed down my pace to bowl with more accuracy. My bowling is much tighter and I get wickets (Y9 urban boy).

I wasn’t that well behaved for Miss L…, but then I improved my behaviour, so now we get on alright. … I don’t know why but I was just answering back, and then I improved my behaviour (Y6 rural girl).

It helps me, because sometimes I’ll read out loud and because I never used to be very good at reading out aloud, like I stuttered quite a bit (Y6 rural girl).

Many reported increased levels of confidence. A … discussed the increase in confidence in school resulting from her involvement with the drama club.

I’ve been speaking out more for what I think. I’ve done drama in front of the class and in assembly (Y6 rural girl).

This too was a common response from the group. What we also found was that this articulation of their learning was extremely rarely shared with their teachers at school. In fact when asked, most children said either that their teachers did not know they participated in these activities or that they did not know whether their teachers knew.

The relationship with the adults involved in the activity itself was a strong factor in continued membership,

We identified two main roles for these adults. The data suggested that there is a distinction between structured out-of-school activities – such as sports teams and drama productions - where there are overarching purposes, rules and outcomes, and the less structured clubs and groups where the adult involvement is not ‘teaching’ but limited to a more peripheral, mainly supervisory role. It was this type of interaction that distinguished the more unstructured formal activities such as Youth Clubs and Church Groups. General activities were on offer and the adults occasionally joined in, but their main role was providing the facilities, supervising in a general way and taking the money or running the refreshment area. The distant nature of the relationship was often indicated by a mere noting of their presence rather than an explanation of their involvement.

They sometimes joined in the activity but their presence was seen to be peripheral to anything the child learned from that activity. C.. could describe in great detail all the activities that she participated in at the Church Club – badminton, air football, darts, table tennis… - but did not mention the adults until asked specifically what they did.

That is not to say that the children did not sometimes learn from the adults’ presence but they were not seen as an integral part of the activity.

In the more structured formal activities the adults were a key element of the children’s involvement. They were seen as role models and the children aspired to the particular proficiencies which they attributed to these leaders. Their expertise was their contribution to the activity not their adultness. In fact in some activities the children themselves were more expert than other adult participants and this added to their understanding of the educational relationship.

Whatever role the adult played in the activity the relationship was always perceived as being very different from that with teachers in school, even when it was the same adult (e.g. teachers taking drama or sports clubs). Out of school, adults were perceived as more approachable and friendly. Although the adults in the clubs could be strict and quite demanding they were much more likely to be described as friends and the predominant word used was ‘fun’ in relation to both the adults and the activities. This is in contrast to school teachers who were rarely discussed in this way.

Teachers don’t often take into consideration our feelings, how you feel you want to learn or how you feel you learn best (Y9 urban girl)

Some teachers wind me up I know they’re older and they have the right to shout at us because they’re teachers, but they just take advantage of us. (Y9 urban girl)

Although there was an acknowledgment that some teachers were more approachable ..

The good teachers show respect - they give you the right to say something, like if they’re having a go at you they actually give you the right to have your opinion. (Y9 urban girl)

….they were described as the ‘good’ teachers whereas in the clubs approachability was accepted as the norm. This contributed to the relationship being seen as being more equal, with children believing in their own agency even when they did not appear to be using it.

Power appeared to be very much more evenly distributed in these formal out-of-school clubs. The children saw not only their own involvement as voluntary but also that of the adults. B.. trains with a football club

This led to the children having difficulty in understanding our questions about discipline. In all cases they were aware of the rules and what happen when people broke the rules – swimming extra lengths, running around the rugby field, being barred from attendance – but it was not a scenario that they could easily envisage. Strict discipline was applied and maintained within many of these settings but it was generally accepted without complaint and differentiated from that in school. C… described how every body kept to the rules in the youth club and accepted them.

You’re not allowed to have food and drink at badminton because you’re not allowed to take drinks in there. And you’re not allowed to run around, you’ve got to walk. And the only place you’re allowed to run around is in the badminton area and outside the chairs, and that’s it really. (Y6 rural girl FSM)

She explained that a child would not be sent home as a punishment That’s a waste of our money. Rather a child would be asked to miss the next session. The children reported many incidents of self regulation. I… explained how the girls in her netball club behave well, cos no one really mucks about because they want to get on with the game (Y6 girl). R …, discussed the behaviour in his drama club.

The only time we chat is when we’re practising and we talk about the scenarios (Y6 boy).

He went on to say that the children behaved better in the drama club than they did in the classroom and suggested this was because there’s more to do so it’s not boring. A… contrasted her coaches to teachers. They don’t shout as much as teachers. I don’t know why and agreed that the children’s behaviour is better in her football team. The coach gives them a warning and people do as they are told. These perceptions were shared by most of the children attending these sorts of activities.

Through their conceptualisation of the role of adults these young people were able to show how their out-of-school activities are more able to meet Roth and Lee’s criteria of being genuine (learning) communities. Involvement is by choice, each individual chooses how they contribute and there is a genuine collective intent or purpose. Individuals come and go and therefore perceptions of expertise change with the young people being able to contribute their greater knowledge and understanding of the activity to the new members.

The conclusion we draw from these differing conceptualisations of the roles of adults involved in the out-of-school activities and adults as teachers in school is that teachers in classrooms were not seen as role models in the same way as those in out-of-school clubs although this could, and did, change when they were involved in out-of-school activities. Teachers tend seen much more as part of the structure rather than part of the activity.

Our data therefore shows a wide range of benefits that children involved in out-of-school formal activities learn from their participation. And key to this learning appeared to be their engagement in real activities in learning communities involving adults as well as their peers.

Our second research question addresses the reality of the disparity between the experiences of children in receipt of FSM benefit and those in more affluent circumstances. If as we surmised at the beginning of the project FSM children were less likely to be participating in formal out-of-school activities then they are being placed in a further disadvantage position in relation to their understanding of and engagement in meaningful educational relationships.

There were fifty five children interviewed in the study, of these 25 were receiving free school meals. Table 1 shows that there were 26 Year 6 (10/11 years) children in the sample and of these just under half (12) were receiving free school meals. In the Year 9 (13/14 years) sample there were 29 children and 13 of these were FSM children. In this section of the paper we concentrate on the type of activities the different groups of children reported doing and their opportunities to access and attend formal out of school activities of the type described.

Table 2 shows that of the thirty non-FSM children in the study 24 were attending some kind of formal activity after school and 6 were not. For the FSM children the numbers of children who were not attending formal activities were considerably higher. Only 14 out of the 25 children were attending some formal after school provision, whilst 11 children were not. This is a higher number and comparatively higher percentage than the non-FSM children and indicates some differential experiences of formal out-of-school activities between FSM children and their peers.

A closer look at the figures (Table 3) reveals that in Year 6 a quarter of the 12 FSM children (3) were not attending formal activities compared with only 1/14 non-FSM children. In the Year 9 sample 5 out of 16 non-FSM children were missing out on formal out-of-school activities, compared with over half (8) of the 13 FSM children.

Table 2: Children’s engagement in formal after school activities financial status

Table 3: Children’s engagement in formal after school activities by year group and financial status

Financial Status	After school activities by year group		Totals
	Free School Meals	Non-Free School Meals
Formal activities Year 6	9	13	22
No formal activities Year 6	3	1	4
All year 6	12	14	26

Formal activities Year 9	5	11	16
No formal activities Year 9	8	5	13
All year 9	13	16	29

One of the values of a study of this kind is that it shows the diversity of children’s lives outside of the school setting and exposes the wide range of formal and informal activities in which they are involved. In doing so it allows us some insight into children’s everyday leisure experiences and reveals them to be very active social agents within their communities, and at home. Table 4 sets out the different activities reported by children in the study, and breaks them down by year group and financial status.

The table shows the considerable range of both formal and informal activities that children reported. What is immediately apparent is the rich seam of reported informal activities. Inevitably the children spent a considerable amount of time with their friends and families. Family activities revolved around the everyday practices of family life, including shopping and outings and for some children a heavier engagement with family responsibilities, supporting parents, cooking and caring for siblings. Wider family relationships were also clearly important with children spending time with relatives, and in the case of children living in separated households time was spent with non-resident parents. Many children spent time alone watching TV, playing on their computers, and reading.

Table 4: Children’s formal and informal activities after school by year group and free school meal status

	Year 6			Year 9
	FSM	Non FSM	FSM		Non FSM
Formal activities	Cricket club Dance club School Drama club Football club Karate club Monday club St John’s Ambulance Youth club	Church club Cricket club Drama club Football club Guitar lessons Language lessons Netball Club School art club School council Scouts Swimming Club School Tag rugby club Youth club	Air training corps Athletics Club Cricket Club Football Club Foster club		Activity club Cricket Club School Drama club Football training Guides Karate Kick boxing Martial arts Modern dancing Rugby Swimming club Trampolining Volley ball Youth centre Church Youth group
Informal activities	Computer – at local library Cooking Den making Family Family responsibilities Football Friends Girl friend Hang around town Mountain biking Play outside Read shopping Sleepovers TV	Computer Cooking Dog training Family Horse riding Mosque MSN Pet care Reading Shopping friends Swimming Tag rugby TV Work – paper round	Archery – with dad at home Bingo Boyfriend Computer Down town Drag racing Drumming Family – responsibilities Sibling care Fishing Football Golf Hang out Friends Homework Ice skating Night-club See non-resident father Shopping Skittles Swimming TV Work – babysitting, skittles		Caring for pets Clubbing Computer Cooking family – mum working Duke of Edinburgh Award Family Football Homework Ice skating Manhunt Play station Pool Reading See non-resident father Shopping with mates Sleepovers Sports centre Swimming Trampolining TV Work – paper round

Informal time with friends was also important and activities with friends ranged from playing complex constructed games such as manhunt, through biking, fishing, football, and swimming to just hanging about together in their neighbourhoods. Some children were also working after school. There was little apparent difference between FSM children and Non- FSM children with regard to informal activities, although FSM children were more likely to be involved with family responsibilities.

When we look at formal activities the picture changes to reveal substantive differences between the type and quality of activities experienced. In Year 6 there is a marked difference between the types of activities taken up by children. Non-FSM children are attending a variety of activities including school council, art, music, drama and sport. However, although some FSM children are attending similar clubs they are generally more heavily reliant on school provision with cricket, drama and football all provided by the school. The church is also playing a role in the provision of youth club and Monday club. In Year 9 the distinction between the two groups is starker. Non-FSM children are taking part in a rich and varied range of formal activities, including sports, martial arts, drama and dancing. In contrast FSM children are taking part in a narrower range of activities. Three of the children are doing sporting activities – fairly traditional ones -and one child (who is fostered) is involved in a foster club. The fifth child attends Air Training Corps, although this is instrumental to getting employment in the future.

The findings raise concerns about the range and quality of after-school experiences that low-income children are able to access. The school is clearly revealed as an important source of formal leisure opportunities for FSM children, and there is some evidence that if low-income children are sporty they might be picked up and noticed at school and in some cases steered towards external clubs. This was the case for N, a Y9 girl living in an urban area, who was spotted as a talented athlete at school and encouraged to attend a local athletics club. However, not all children are sporty and in some instances children reported a lack of opportunities for leisure at their schools, particularly if they were not keen on sports. This is L…… a rural girl who wants to take part in clubs but feels that school provision is unsuited to her needs:

I could stay on at school but I’d probably end up walking home because my dad would be at work and there’s not really anything at the school that I like because it’s always sports. I just don’t like exercise. I’m a very lazy person. (Y9 girl)

Findings from this study reveal a complex array of factors affecting children’s engagement with formal out of school activities. For FSM children there were a range of issues and concerns including availability, access and cost, families and friends and children’s self perceptions of themselves as attendees. These factors often overlapped and interacted with each other, and they formed a complex constellation of disadvantages which inhibited children’s opportunities for formal out-of-school experiences.

A key element in FSM children’s attendance was the availability and/or perception of availability of formal activities in their schools and neighbourhoods. This was a complex issue linked both to access and cost and children’s perceptions of what was possible for them and open to them. It was clear that many of these children felt that there were no opportunities for formal activities either at school or in their neighbourhoods. This lack of opportunity and choice was compounded by difficulties in gaining access to whatever was available. Previous research has shown that the cost of attending is a key factor in attendance out of school opportunities of low-income children (Ridge 2002). Concerns about the cost of transport and the cost of joining were clearly evident. Transport was a key concern and was often affecting whether children could do things that their friends were doing. J… wanted to go to dance classes like her friends but they were held in a nearby town and she did not afford the transport to get there

It’s not that far but you’d have to pay a bus journey and you’ve got to pay for it when you get there. That’s a lot of money (Y9 rural girl FSM)

Formal activities often involve extra costs, entrance fees and equipment. Some, like football, may require parents to take their children to matches further a field, this can be particular problematic in families where there transport is constrained and reciprocity between families may be problematic. Without transport to share low-income parents may be reluctant to enter into reciprocal arrangements for attending clubs and events. This was having an impact on children like J… , a Y6 rural FSM boy, who plays football with his friend, but is unable to go the football club because of the cost of joining and getting to training and matches.

Another factor in FSM children’s lack of formal activities was involvement in family life and family practices which took time and commitment. Some children said that they preferred to be at home with their families than taking part in clubs. There were several children who came from large families and these families are likely to be particularly disadvantaged (Bradshaw 2006). Many children were also living in complex and re-formed families, and time was being spent with non-resident fathers and step families. This potentially reduces the time that children can spend at formal activities. However, in some cases, time spent with non-resident fathers was a valuable social resource and children were doing a range of activities with their fathers including drag racing, mountain biking and attending football matches. Family life was also sometimes chaotic and this militated against attendance. G… had undertaken a range of family responsibilities including cooking and caring for her two brothers, one of whom had ADHD. Her opportunities to take part in formal activities were severely constrained. As she explained any clubs would have to take her brothers as well as her, she was also concerned about coming home late to find that social services or the bailiffs had visited. Her home life was clearly too unstable for her to feel secure about taking time out for herself. She had moved back to her mother’s from her father’s and she showed a keen sense of how her life had changed and its impact on her own well-being.

I do my own thing at my mum’s, I get what I want, but not what I need. But at my dad’s I get what I need, but less of what I want. (Y9 rural girl FSM)

She had previously enjoyed attending a trampolining club with her friend, when she lived with her father, but since moving back to her mother’s she had fallen out with her new friends and did not feel that the school had a good opinion of her. The tensions between her social difficulties and her responsibilities at home had inhibited her willingness trying to engage with formal activities especially those at school. G’s experiences highlight the importance of secure friendships for initiating and sustaining children in formal activities. Some of the children were having difficulties sustaining friendships, or had experienced some bullying. The importance of having friends to encourage and share experiences with was evident and some children who had been attending clubs had dropped out when their friends stopped going. The importance of friends and family for formal activities is explored in more detail later.

Where there were no affordable formal activities for children they were generally frustrated and disappointed. But this lack of opportunities was also sometimes mapped onto their sense of self as a non-attendee; someone who does not want to engage in the same way as others. This discourse of difference was apparent in several of the children’s accounts. S…. sees himself as ‘a loner’ and doesn’t like sports. He would like to go to a youth club but there is nothing available for him.

For C.. opportunities in her rural neighbourhood seemed particularly sparse, however as she explains school activities are not for her, she is different:

We don’t have a youth club down at C… so there’s nothing to do really with other village people, apart from going down to the park. I don’t really join in with all the after school stuff because it doesn’t seem that appealing to me, which may sound a bit harsh, but I’m just a bit different to everyone else’. (Y9 rural girl FSM)

Previous research with low-income children has shown that where children are unable to join in with other children in shared activities they are often involved in saving face, covering up their inability to participate with a seeming indifference (Ridge, 2002: Daly and Leonard, 2002).

In addition to some distancing of the self as an attendee some children appeared to lack confidence when thinking about the possibility of taking part in formal clubs. School clubs were seen as too bossy, always full, and difficult to get into. Some children found it very difficult to imagine the process of joining, they wanted to take part but were not able to think of ways to find out about places, times etc. Children’s attitudes to formal clubs was complex and nuanced, although they identified barriers to participation and in some cases feign indifference to attending, they were often keen to do activities that they would chose themselves. S…. did not attend any clubs and felt that they would be hard work, but she talked enthusiastically about all the things she would like to do e.g. football – but boys would tease her, gym, ballet, guitar, horse riding – but too expensive. She really liked computers but would not ask about school computer club.

I can’t ask because I think, I feel like every time I ask I think it’s rude.

She also loved swimming but rarely goes, although she had been able to swim regularly at school in the past:

when I was in year three we went swimming lessons and that. But when we’re in year four we can only go when we’re in year five. And I’m really angry I can’t understand why can year three go and year five and year six, but we can’t go (Y6 rural girl FSM).

The experiences of children like S… further indicate that school provision of formal leisure opportunities may be particularly important for younger children, when they are not able to access shared peer group activities elsewhere.

There were considerably fewer non-FSM children who were not attending formal clubs (6). Their reasons for non-attendance mapped closely on to some of the FSM reasons. Two of the 6 children were heavily involved with family commitments, one seeing her father at weekends; one doing some caring for her mother who had a disability. Friendships were also instrumental in the accounts of two of the children; one child had been bullied at a previous club and another had fallen out with the friend with whom they used to attend. One child lived in a very rural neighbourhood and there was little available for her in her village which was poorly served by either facilities or public transport. However, although showing some similarity with regard to family and friends these children did not express the same set of concerns as the FSM children in relation to cost, transport and access. Nor had they developed a discourse of difference or indifference in relation to taking part.

We started with the premise that if the educational attainment and subsequent life chances of children in poverty were to be improved we needed to look beyond school based initiatives at how and why children engaged in learning activities. Our study addressed two questions:

Our findings showed that all children gained from being involved in out-of-school formal activities in a variety of ways. Not only did they learn about the activity itself but they also showed an understanding of, and were able to articulate that learning and the role that adults played in it. From our study we drew the conclusion that what made these activities so beneficial was the fact that they were genuine learning communities with all members, adults and children, making real contributions to the learning of the group.

In addressing our second question we were able to show that children from families in receipt of free school meals participate in less formal out-of-school activities for several reasons; costs, access and limited knowledge about how to realise access and perceptions of self as an attendee. This, we argue leads to an increase in their disadvantage when it comes to negotiating other learning environments such as school.

There are implications from our findings for both policy makers and practitioners in schools. To take the latter group first. We would argue that teachers need to develop strategies for learning about, and valuing, what their students do in their out-of-school activities. Where children felt these activities had impacted on their school experience it was often because their relationship with teachers had been changed. But what cannot be ignored is that what made these activities attractive and successful learning communities was the very fact that they were not school.

For policy makers we think our findings have several messages. Being able to access out-of-school activities easily, and on the same terms as their more affluent peers could be an important starting point. Enabling such access through the provision of free clubs, concessionary transport etc. could have real influence on children’s engagement with learning. Two of us (Bullock and Wikeley, 2004) make the point elsewhere that seeing such access as an entitlement for all rather than an expensive provision for an elite or an intervention for the disadvantaged often has a major impact on take-up. Another message relates to the use of schools both in terms of being part of the provision for younger children (we found older children often did not join school clubs but preferred off site alternatives) but also acting as a facility to be used by other learning communities in areas where such facilities are limited. This point relates to our final suggestion which is the key message from our study. The reason these children were involved in all these activities was because they chose to do so. As Roth and Lee comment for learning communities to be real, free choice in terms of involvement and contribution is essential.

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Roth W-M and Lee Y-J (2006) Contradictions in theorizing and implementing communities in education. Educational Research Review Vol 1 (pp 27- 40)

	Rural		Urban		Total
	FSM	No-FSM	FSM	No-FSM
Primary (Year 6)	6	8	6	6	26
Secondary (Year 9)	2 + 5	6 + 4	6	6	29
Total	13	18	12	12	55

Financial Status	After School Activities		Totals
	Free School Meals	Non-Free School Meals
Formal activities	14	24	38
No formal activities	11	6	17
All children	25	30	55