The campaigners calling for an end to hunger in primary schools

We spoke to Mari Burton for a special edition of UCL Policy Lab magazine. Sign up for their newsletter here to find out more about Policy Lab and get the latest news events

Early in her career, Mari Burton found herself teaching in a school near where she grew up. “The school was in a very deprived area,” she remembers. “Kids were at risk of getting involved in lots of nasty crimes. It really felt like if we could just throw a little bit of money at this, it would solve so many things,” she recalls.

 But then she moved to a school in a more affluent area. “And then I realised how naive I was,” she recalls. “There are actually loads of issues going on here as well. The difference was that not everybody could see them. When you’ve got a bit of money, you can cover up a lot that’s going on that’s not right for kids.” 

One was the inequality between the kids from homes with a lot of money and those from homes without, that raises challenges from the classroom to the canteen that many teachers know all too well. “It was quite hard to tread that balance between making sure you're giving kids the things they need without embarrassing them,” Burton says. “I remember this particular girl who would get in trouble for nicking chips from the canteen. She was obviously stealing because there was no food at home.” Burton found herself trying to figure out how to offer practical help without causing embarrassment. Techniques such as ‘there was this three-for-two offer on breakfast bars so I’ve accidentally got more than I can eat, so could you give me a hand and take some?’ “But kids aren’t stupid,” she says. “They know what you're doing.” The challenge, as she saw it, was not just about resources. It’s also about dignity and respect.

Burton brought this sensitivity to the dignity of others to her subsequent roles in her union. She explains that the lockdowns during the pandemic focused minds on the practicalities of what children need to learn. “We did a lot of campaigning on expanding free school meals into the holidays,” she says. The campaign took on questions such as: is the right food available in schools? How, under lockdown conditions, can we make it easier for parents to get to school to pick up the food and get back home?”

 All this raised public awareness of the fact that on any given day, many children around the country rely on schools for food. More children go hungry during the day than receive free school meals. More than two million children - 23.8% of state school pupils - are eligible for free meals in England. “The free school meal issue through the pandemic allowed us to start saying: ‘well, what do you think happens when schools are open as normal? What do you think happens during the holidays? There are kids who just go without,” says Burton.

 Those working on the front line are particularly well-placed to see the problem. “Some of the teachers see kids who turn up after the holidays visibly underweight because they’ve gone six weeks without meals at school,” she says. The public conversation about food and education through the pandemic created made people more receptive to the idea of expanding eligibility for free school meals.

 Right now, eligibility for free school meals is complicated. Across England, outside London, all pupils in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 are eligible. But after that, the obligation stops. In practice, that means that many children get into the queue for school meals for three years. “But when they get in the same queue at the start of their third year, they’re told: ‘sorry, you’re not allowed to do that anymore.’” For children, the change is naturally jarring. Beyond that, children are eligible if they or their parents receive certain benefits. A few local authorities offer support; most do not. The result is a patchwork of provision. 

 The National Education Union joins others in campaigning for a much simpler rule: free school meals for every child in primary school. This would cost £1 billion per year. But our colleagues at the Institute of Fiscal Studies calculate that the benefits could be immense. Free school meals of this sort could save families about £230 a year per child, rising to about £440 in London. Many families will buy more or healthier food with the savings. If you are looking for a policy that improves attainment in school, particularly for children from less affluent backgrounds, giving children free nutritious school meals is probably the closest thing there is. 

In a pilot programme conducted in Newham and Durham from 2009 to 2011, universal entitlement to school meals led to children making two months’ more progress, on average, than similar pupils in comparison areas. Plenty of other studies have similar results. There is even evidence from Sweden that children who eat a healthy meal at school grow into healthier adults.

This is backed by research from the UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities. Jake Anders, Deputy Director at the center is clear the pandemic placed a spotlight on many challenges facing households. 

"More than half of households who reported that their children went hungry during the pandemic were not eligible for free school meals during that time, and neither were over a third of those using  food banks. Moreover, young people in families who reported using food banks during the pandemic received almost half a grade per subject lower GCSE grades than peers with similar prior attainment and household finances. That so many are food insecure but would not be considered eligible for free school meals under current rules suggests that the eligibility criteria are in need of urgent review. No young people should be going hungry, especially if this has the potential for serious long-term impacts.”

The campaign for free school meals, however, risked clashing with other groups campaigning for different changes to eligibility, such as free school meals for all children from families who got Universal Credit or similar benefits. “Some of our coalition partners were saying ‘actually, that's a little bit beyond our policy at this point,’ Burton recalls. The differences could have divided the coalition and weakened the campaign.

 But by focusing on their shared objective – expanding provision of school meals and the sense of respect that comes with it – the coalition found it easier to work together. 

Burton says that her approach is not to lose sight of the fact that campaigns with different policy aims are ultimately pushing in the same direction. 

“I think you sometimes have to play a bit of a longer game. If we can win on getting free school meals for all children in primary schools, it will be much easier to then say: ‘well, what about all the kids on Universal Credit in secondary schools?’” she says. 

This acceptance of difference is supported by others who study theories of community organising. Thinkers like Amanda Tattersall, who has led work to develop new ways of organising in Australia, learning from successful coalition practice around the world. 

“We have found that the most powerful coalitions not only enable people to negotiate across different interests or identities, they find ways to respect and embrace different theories of change. Why make people choose between mobilising or organising, or between prefiguring a great school lunch program or lobbying for public policy? It is possible for coalitions to be a space where multiple strategies can bloom in support of an agreed common purpose.”

 The kind of approach is paying off. In 2020, Scotland pledged to extend Free School Meals for every child in primary education. In 2022, Wales said they would do the same. Sadiq Khan has now delivered the same in London for this academic year. 

This kind of policy work, where difference is expected and embraced could be key for how we build movements for social change. Recognising that although our politics and perspective may differ the broad objective can be shared. 

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The National Education Union’s No Child Left Behind Campaign is at https://nochildleftbehind.org.uk

 Amanda Tattersall has written Power in Coalition (2010), and People Power in Cities (forthcoming, with Kurt Iveson).

We spoke to Mari Burton for a special edition of UCL Policy Lab magazine. Sign up for their newsletter here to find out more about Policy Lab and get the latest news events