Between reproduction and equity: educational policies addressing child poverty
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21167656Keywords:
Child poverty, Educational inequality, Educational equity, Public policy, Educational trajectoriesAbstract
Child poverty constitutes one of the main challenges to educational equity due to its capacity to shape academic trajectories and future development opportunities. This study aims to analyse, from a qualitative perspective grounded in Grounded Theory, the mechanisms linking child poverty to educational inequality and to examine the role of public policies in mitigating or reproducing these inequalities within the Spanish context. Through a documentary review and a process of open and axial coding, the multidimensional reproduction of educational inequality arising from child poverty was identified as the core category. The findings reveal that educational inequalities emerge through the interaction of factors related to health, housing conditions, emotional well-being, cultural capital, school segregation, and family socioeconomic circumstances. The study concludes that educational policies have significant compensatory potential; however, their effectiveness depends on the implementation of comprehensive and sustained strategies capable of addressing the multiple dimensions of child poverty simultaneously.
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