Overcoming stereotypes, discovering hidden capitals

Abstract

This article presents a model of teacher research supported by academic partners to develop a better understanding of the barriers to education faced by young people growing up in poverty. It critiques politicians' demands for teachers to 'close the gap' for ignoring the cumulative intergenerational effects of deprivation. The authors explain how a simplistic 'craft' version of teaching has tended to reduce initial teacher education in England to training in the pragmatics of curriculum 'delivery' and policy implementation, leaving teachers theoretically and practically ill-prepared to deal with extremes of inequality. Finally, it presents a pilot research project designed to see beyond statistical labels and into the particularities of students' lives out of school, in order to reveal not only the realities of deprivation but also potential sources of cultural and social capital in their extended families and neighbourhoods.

Understanding elementary teachers' perceptions of students of color and low socioeconomic status students

“…Humans are complex beings. Our social standing is dependent upon complex interrelated factors, such as gender, race, ethnicity (Beckett & Wrigley, 2014;Dunne & Gazeley, 2008;Glock et al, 2014;Parks & Kennedy, 2007;Peterson et al, 2016), social status, wealth (Dunne & Gazeley, 2008;Peterson et al, 2016), sexual orientation, and educational attainment (Hughes, Gleason, & Zhang, 2005), all of which influence structural, cultural, and social identities, which are intertwined with material and power inequities. Inequities can surface with individual or group identity evaluation, coupled with actions that may privilege or obstruct resource access (O'Connor, 2001).…”

“…Educators could support and assist students in meeting their expectations through positive reinforcement (Termes . But research has demonstrated that teacher interactions with students varies depending on the child, context, and often, social categories (Beckett & Wrigley, 2014;Pringle et al, 2010;Termes Lopez, 2017). Even though stigmatized groups were found to be more susceptible to lower performance due to underestimations of ability (de Boer et al, 2010), children have been found to be resilient, capable of developing strategies to compensate for unequal treatment (Termes .…”

“…This perspective was not found to be uncommon among current research. Researchers pointed to educators and policy makers viewing poor students as lacking aspiration and a drive to be successful, thus lowering their cultural capital and limiting their opportunities within the educational setting (Beckett & Wrigley, 2014;Tomlinson & Jarvis, 2014).…”

“…As an institutional setting, schools tend to reproduce social hierarchies, and educators in the field have a propensity to misrecognize those students possessing cultural capital as holding higher levels of academic ability over students who have been perceived to not have much or any cultural capital (Andersen & Jaeger, 2015;Beckett & Wrigley, 2014). This held true for Julie when she was misdiagnosed as academically gifted in math.…”

“…She was careful to not spend an overabundance of time with her highest performers, so it did not appear that they received special treatment from her. Students' social status and cultural capital, according to Bourdieu and Passeron (1977), could be used and converted into capital to generate higher status and economic advantages (Beckett & Wrigley, 2014). This was evident in Alexa's classroom where she awarded higher status to her advanced learners over other students, and in Julie's case when she received higher status through her misidentified math brilliance.…”