The topic of this research is the dissemination of cultural capital theory and research from academic communities to school staff. It explores what it means to be a research-informed teacher, most especially with respect to educational inequalities regarding class and cultural background. This is both an empirical study (drawing from interviews with members of school staff), as well as a theoretical one (considering issues in the philosophy of language and the philosophy of science). It explores the following:

(1)         what teachers (especially school leaders) mean by ‘cultural capital’ (in particular, how this is revealed in their justifications of school practices);

(2)         how the current meaning and use of ‘cultural capital’ in schools relates to Bourdieu and Passeron’s theory of social reproduction; and

(3)         how the current meaning and use of ‘cultural capital’ in schools relates to the research evidence regarding cultural capital that has accumulated in the last 50 years.

The study has European significance because it raises questions regarding the transfer of theoretical concepts from one national context to another. Academics’ use of the term capital culturel is charted through studies across Northern Europe (Breinholt & Jaeger, 2020; Bourdieu and Passeron, 1990; Jaeger & Breen, 2016; Lareau & Weininger, 2003; Sieben & Lechner, 2019). Some political conditions that are exacerbating the challenges of research dissemination in this case are highlighted, but the challenges are not specific to the UK.

In order to compare the viewpoints of practitioners with those of academics, I draw on theoretical frameworks of cultural capital associated with the work of Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron (1990), including the interpretations of John Goldthorpe (2007) and Lareau and Weininger (2003). I also turn to the work of Saul Kripke (1981) and Mark Wilson (2008) to reflect on how the meaning of terms is transmitted between people and to examine the appropriateness of our everyday conceptual frameworks regarding evidence and research dissemination in the field of education.

I will share some of the uses and meaning of ‘cultural capital’ in schools in England and reflect on how these compare with Bourdieu and Passeron’s use of the term capital culturel (1990). The purpose will be to make some suggestions regarding the challenges to using research evidence in practice: the different meaning of terms, the lack of detail in research messaging, the vagueness of research summaries, the requirement (in England) to demonstrate that money spent to reduce educational inequalities is supported by evidence (DfE, 2019). The study raises concerns about the feasibility of usefully transmitting research messages to teachers. I do not propose that teachers are at fault in their use of ‘cultural capital’, but that we need to accommodate the natural ways in which language transfers ideas in our conceptualisations of evidence and research dissemination. I present the findings and hypotheses that resulted from the study in order to ignite further discussion with the audience.

This paper reports on the findings of a study into educational inequalities funded by the Social Mobility Commission. 150+ interviews were conducted with school leaders, classroom teachers and support staff at 32 secondary schools in England between October 2019 and March 2020. The objective of the wider project was to explore what schools are doing to support children from lower income homes. The topic of cultural capital was raised by participants in 38 (25%) interviews at 14 schools (47%) when describing what their school was doing to reduce educational inequalities. These 38 interview scripts form the basis of this study. Thematic analysis was used to investigate what teachers and support workers meant by ‘cultural capital’ when they introduced this term of their own accord during interviews to describe school practices. The analysis was first completed using themes that arose in the interviews (broadening horizons, community, confidence, cultural diversity, curriculum, deficit model, enrichment, literacy, non-academic purposes, and relationship building). The analysis was also conducted using codes drawn up from a literature review and an analysis of the work of Bourdieu and Passeron (arbitrariness, economic resources, highbrow, parental cultural capital, inculcation, and tastes/preferences). This enabled a more systematic comparison between practitioners’ and academics’ use of the term ‘cultural capital’. I further analysed the interview scripts to identify and categorise all cultural capital practices described by practitioners as taking place in their schools during the 2019-20 school year. A ‘cultural capital practice’ was defined generally as any intervention or approach taken by the school in order to give students access to cultural capital. (‘Giving access’ was the most commonly used description of cultural capital transmission by practitioners, who also used the phrases ‘giving’, ‘improving’, ‘skilling up’, ‘gaining’, ‘filling in’ and ‘compensating for’). A total of 30 cultural capital practices were contrasted and compared regarding their approach, objectives and reasoning to draw out their underlying assumptions. An ‘interventionist account of cultural capital’ was then drawn up to summarise the assumptions and understandings of school staff regarding cultural capital.

The study found that teachers in English schools use the term ‘cultural capital’ in multiple (and contradictory) ways. The term has retained many hallmarks of Bourdieu and Passeron’s theory of social reproduction, but has rejected others, and has assimilated ideas regarding cultural diversity and inclusion, most especially Tara Yosso’s concept of ‘community cultural wealth’ (Tichavakunda 2019; Yosso, 2005). Cultural capital practices make different assumptions about the causes of educational inequalities and how to tackle them. Some seek to make changes in children’s homes. Others attempt to mimic the homelife of more affluent children in school time. Some try to compensate for a perceived lack of cultural capital. Others attempt to change the school curriculum to weaken the correlation between cultural capital and academic achievement. The study also found that 'cultural capital’ is acknowledged by practitioners to be a technical term that generally ‘carries’ with it the weight of research evidence. Practitioners understood that there is evidence that supports cultural capital practices in general, and therefore that any cultural capital practices are backed by evidence. This confidence in research evidence came from colleagues, school leadership, and the fact that the organisation for school standards in England had recently introduced cultural capital into its inspection framework (Ofsted, 2019). However, the practices implemented did not closely reflect the large international body of cultural capital literature. I conclude that disseminating research has not worked in this case. However, considering the details of this case, I suggest that the challenge lies in the nature of ordinary language, and not in the skills of teachers or researchers. It is not that we should change how others use the term ‘cultural capital’, but that we need to pay attention to how they do so. I propose this has significant consequences for how we think about research dissemination.

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