Reasons for High-Brow Cultural Participation of Primary School Children with Migrational Background in Germany

Author(s):

Piia-Kaisa af UrsinStephan Kröner

Conference:

ECER 2010

Network:

11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance

Format:

Poster

Session Information

MC_Poster, Poster Session Main Conference

Main Conference Poster Session

Time:

2010-08-27

12:15-13:15

Room:

2nd Floor Hall (M.B)/ II KRS AULA, Päärakennus / Main Building,

Chair:

Contribution

Cultural capital plays a strong role in determining educational and vocational success (Bourdieu, 1987). Even children at the beginning of their educational career differ in their cultural capital, depending on their social background. As they grow older, these differences are not becoming equalized, but rather exacerbated, because primary schools mostly assume equality in starting conditions and therefore treat children with different amounts of cultural capital as if they really had equal starting positions (Georg, 2004). A widespread indicator of cultural capital is participation in high-brow cultural activities such as visiting museums or theatres. Many surveys, for example PISA, have proved the existence of a strong connection between the children’s high-brow cultural participation and their success in German schools (Baumert et al., 2003).

In primary schools, with rough measures of high-brow cultural activities, there is evidence of positive effects of high-brow cultural participation on pupils’ grades (Bos et al., 2007). However, there is only little in-detail research about high-brow cultural participation among primary school children in Germany. One reason for that lack of research might be the absence of suitable instruments. Existing questionnaires contain only few items on participation per se and do not assess reasons for it. In addition, they do not discuss the specific situation of children with migrational background. Therefore, the present study represents a first step in the development of a reliable questionnaire on reasons for high-brow cultural participation of primary school children, especially those with migrational background. Such a questionnaire is an important prerequisite of future research on interventions towards increasing cultural capital of primary school children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Method

Within the framework of an elicitation study N = 23 primary school children of fourth grade took part in qualitative semi-structured interviews. They were asked about the reasons why they do or do not participate in high-brow cultural activities. The transcribed interview data were analyzed through a qualitative content analysis (Mayring, 2007). The created categories were based on the three dimensions of the theory of planned behaviour, attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control (Ajzen, 2005). Reasons for and against high-brow cultural activities were reliably assigned to these categories by two reviewers, leading to excellent interrater agreement of кn > .86 (Brennan & Prediger, 1981).

Expected Outcomes

The children made altogether 289 statements about the reasons whether or not to participate in high-brow cultural activities. Most of them (163) illustrated the category “attitudes concerning cultural activities” and were mostly positive (107). 57 statements were assigned to the category “subjective norm”, they were also mostly positive (44). In contrast, only the category “perceived behavioural control” with 69 statements turned out to have the most negative statements (61). Results suggest that although the children were interested in high-brow cultural activities, they do not take part in these activities because they sense lack of support on behalf of their families. The statements collected in the elicitation study can be used to generate items for a questionnaire, which allows a quantitative-empirical examining of the factors behind the high-brow cultural participation among primary school children. Consequences of the elicitation study for quantitative follow-up research and for interventions to support children’s participation on high-status cultural activities will be discussed.

References

Ajzen, I. (2005). Attitudes, personality and behavior. Birmingham: Open University Press. Aschaffenburg, K. & Maas, I. (1997). Cultural and Educational Careers: The Dynamics of Social Reproduction. American Sociological Review, 62, 573-587. Baumert, J., Watermann, R., & Schümer, G. (2003). Disparitäten der Bildungsbeteiligung und des Kompetenzerwerbs. Ein institutionelles und individuelles Mediationsmodell. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 6, 46-72. Bos, W., Gröhlich, C. & Pietsch, M. (Hrsg.) (2007). KESS 4 – Lehr- und Lernbedingungen in Hamburger Grundschulen. Münster: Waxmann Verlag GmbH Bourdieu, P. (1987). Die feinen Unterschiede. Kritik der gesellschaftlichen Urteilskraft. 6. Auflage. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. Brennan, R. L. & Prediger, D. J. (1981). Coefficient λ: Some Uses, Misuses, and Alternatives. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 41, 687-699. Georg, W. (2004). Cultural Capital and Social Inequality in the Life Course. European Sociological Review, 20, 333-344. Mayring, P. (2008). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse - Grundlagen und Techniken. 10. Auflage. Weinheim: Beltz.

Author Information

Piia-Kaisa af Ursin

Erlangen-Nürnberg University

Institute of educational research

Nürnberg

Stephan Kröner

Erlangen-Nürnberg University, Germany

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