Examination of the reflections of poverty culture on the students' education lives and development areas (Mothers' experiences)

The main purpose of this research is to examine the effects of poverty culture on the developmental levels of children and their academic lives from the perspective of poor mothers, based on their narratives about their experiences and family stories. For this reason, the narrative research design was considered to be the most appropriate method for this study, which aims to make the effects of poverty on children's development areas and academic lives visible, beyond defining the concept and quality, with the meanings produced from the stories of the poor mothers, which are not visible to them, buried in their experiences. A homogeneous sampling method was used in the selection of the study group. Participants consist of 10 volunteer mothers with children who live in the Çaycuma district of Zonguldak province with an income below the monthly net minimum wage of 4.253 TL determined for 2022 and attend educational institutions. A semi-structured interview form was used to collect the data for the study. The thematic analysis method was used in the analysis of the data, focusing on what was said and what was told in the narratives, the thematic contents were reached with an inductive approach. The findings were interpreted under four themes: women's poverty and its reflections on daily life, the solutions women use in the fight against poverty, poverty, and education according to the experiences of mothers, internalized poverty culture, and education. As a result of the research, it has been seen that mothers struggle to reach the resources that can complete their children's physical, cognitive and behavioral development in a healthy way, that the low socioeconomic level affects the education life of the students negatively, but that some children can be successful through the intermediary resources, especially the skills and power of the mothers, through which they can overcome the difficulties brought by their disadvantaged living conditions.