Giving Compass' Take:

• Judith Burns reports that austerity has allowed families to fall into poverty, putting children's education behind. 

• How can funders work to support families to help children get a better education? 

• Learn about the importance of early childhood literacy. 

Poverty is harming children's capacity to learn and it's getting worse, suggests a survey of teachers.

Pupils who go to school hungry from cramped, noisy homes where they can't sleep properly, struggle to learn says the National Education Union (NEU).

"I try to teach my phonics group as I am giving others cereal to eat," one teacher told NEU researchers.

Ministers say employment is at a record high, wages outstrip inflation and fewer people are in "absolute" poverty.

But the NEU says anecdotal evidence from its members suggests more families are falling into poverty.

"Government does not want to hear these stories from the frontline of teaching, but they must," said NEU Joint General Secretary, Dr Mary Bousted.

"A decade of austerity has only served to place more children in poverty while at the same time destroying the support structures for poor families," she added.

Read the full article about child poverty preventing learning by Judith Burns at BBC.