Home Culture, School Ethos and Engagement

Author(s):

Tom Ralph(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

07 SES 09, Travellers and Intercultural Education

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-20

11:00-12:30

Room:

ESI 3 - Aula 4

Chair:

Francesca Gobbo

Contribution

This paper explores the ways in which home cultures impact on school engagement with particular reference to certain communities. It is based on a research project that took place in an English secondary school located in a deprived estate largely inhabited by white, working class families but also with a large number of housed travellers. There are also a number of children who are known locally as ‘wannabes’; a group of non-travellers who identify themselves closely with the traveller community. The school has low scores on measures of attainment and on value added measures. It is also consistently bottom of local school league tables.

The outcomes were analysed according to Bourdieu’s theories of cultural capital and habitus. Lave and Wenger’s concepts of situated learning and communities of practice were also used to help understand what happens to students as they move from their home environment to school and back. Learning was considered to be an ontological process, meaning that when a learner participates in a community of practice, such as a school, that learner undergoes a transformation. This transformation can be seen as a threat by other communities that that person is a part of. The impact of this on school ethos, seen from a constructivist perspective as a dynamic concept emerging from the intentions and interactions of all the members of its community, was then considered.

Method

In order to answer the research questions an interpretive case study was carried out. An interpretive approach was considered appropriate due to its focus on individuals and the meanings they give to the world around them. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews with groups of teachers, pupils and other youth workers in the school. Questionnaires were not used because of the difficulties involved with getting responses from the traveller community. Although there was no between method source of triangulation the distinct groups that were involved strengthened triangulation overall, as did the checking back of interpretations. It was not considered a problem that the various data sources may not converge on a singular point of view since inconsistent or contradictory data can still provide an understanding of a multifaceted experience of social phenomena. The triangulation methods discussed in the paper should uphold the internal validity and, since the research was interested in examining an idiosyncratic situation rather than in prediction, reliability. The provision of detail about the school context allows others to relate to the research and therefore adds to the external validity of the work.

Expected Outcomes

The findings suggested that all of the children involved in the project disliked the teaching methods employed by the school. Whilst the travellers were totally unwilling to engage with these, the working class students felt that it was important to do so even if they didn’t enjoy it. All three groups of children expressed a preference for practical activities and felt that school work was too abstract to be useful. The significant difference between the activities on offer and the type of activity that students would enjoy is a matter of taste, which is a function of habitus. This demonstrates the difference between the habituses of the teaching staff and their middle class backgrounds and the students who would prefer more practical work. Ultimately it was found that, given the disparate individual habituses that the various groups brought to the school, the only commonalities that formed the institutional habitus was a belief that the school was incapable of change and improvement. If this is the only common perception to all members of the school, then that is the reality of the school ethos.

References

Bourdieu,P. (1990) in: R. Nice (Trans.) The logic of practice. Cambridge: Polity Press. Bourdieu, P. & Wacquant, L. J. D. (1992). An invitation to reflexive sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press. Donnelly, C. (2000). In pursuit of school ethos. British Journal of Educational Studies. 48(2), 134-154. Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Levinson, M.P. (2007). Literacy in English Gypsy communities: Cultural capital manifested as negative assets. American Educational Research Journal. 44(1), 5-39. Scott, W.R. (2008). Institutions and organisations. (3rd ed.) London: SAGE.

Author Information

Tom Ralph (presenting / submitting)

University of Exeter

Graduate School of Education

Exeter

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