Education in disadvantaged neighbourhoods raises complex interactional issues between students and teachers. Asymmetrical power entails mis/recognition and constrained participation (Fraser 1997), preventing students ‘capitalising’ their cultural assets (Bourdieu 2004/1983). Stereotyping poor families (Jones 2011) exacerbates feelings of shame and futility in deindustrialised communities (Charlesworth 2000). Goffman’s Asylums (1961) provides a model of research: symbolic interactionism in institutional settings. Drawing on his recent book (Smyth and Wrigley 2013), the presenter argues for ethnographic research to: uncover cultural and social assets, not simply barriers; explain ‘interactional trouble’ arising from the distance between teachers’ and students’ lifeworlds; explore the dynamics of ‘pedagogies of poverty’ (Haberman 1991). He will also summarise a pilot study encouraging teacher-researchers towards an appreciation of potential cultural and social assets. References Bourdieu, P (1983) The forms of capital. http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/bourdieu-forms-capital.htm Charlesworth, S (2000) A phenomenology of working class experience. Cambridge: CUP Fraser, N (1997) Justice interruptus. London: Routledge Goffman, E (1961) Asylums. New York: Doubleday Haberman, M (1991) The pedagogy of poverty versus good teaching. Phi Delta Kappan 73(4) Jones, O (2011) Chavs. London: Verso Sen, A (2009) The idea of justice. London: Allen Lane Smyth, J and Wrigley, T (2013) Living on the edge. New York: Peter Lang