WHAT IS CULTURAL CAPITAL?

From September, the new Ofsted framework requires schools to develop their children’s 'cultural capital'. The Cultural Learning Alliance has a wonderful blog post which provides a quick summary of some of the history, academic thinking and definitions of this key term."Cultural consumption and notions of ‘high art’ have changed over time. Today’s prominent academic researchers have coined the term ‘cultural omnivore’ (Peterson 1992, Peterson & Kern 1996): someone who mixes interests in a wide range of forms of culture, both those seen as historically ‘legitimate’ by society, and emerging forms – such as Grime music. ‘Cultural capital’ in this new sense is embodied by an individual who is knowledgeable about a wide range of culture and is comfortable discussing its value and merits. It is characterised by the experience and skill to be able to deploy the appropriate knowledge in any given situation: a job interview, a conversation with a neighbour, building a work network and so on."

"Evidence suggests that the cultural capital passed on through families helps children do better in school. The education system values the knowledge and ways of thinking developed by acquiring cultural capital, both abstract and formal. As adults, cultural capital helps individuals to network with other adults who have a similar body of knowledge and experiences, and who in turn control access to high-paying professions and prestigious leadership roles, for example in government."

"In their 2009 book Culture, Class, Distinction Bennet et al, describe this system of privilege:
‘This is the reproduction circuit associated with schooling and formal education. Those parents equipped with cultural capital are able to drill their children in the cultural forms that predispose them to perform well in the educational system through their ability to handle “abstract” and “formal” categories. These children are able to turn their cultural capital into credentials, which can then be used to acquire advantaged positions themselves.’"

"Studies by organisations such as the Sutton Trust have probed this issue of how types of education and family background confer advantages on some children. The report 'Parent Power' shows how wealthy parents buy in extra schooling (including in arts subjects) to push their children ahead of their peers in exams and to secure entry to more prestigious schools and universities. Projects such as 'The Class Ceiling' have shown how recruitment into top professions, including banking and law, is made easier by the level of cultural capital of the applicants."

"The new Ofsted Framework requires schools to consider how they develop their children’s cultural capital to help them succeed in life and as part of making the judgement about the quality of education, inspectors will consider the extent to which schools are equipping children with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. ‘It is the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.’ Ofsted School Inspection Handbook 2019."

"The CLA believes that we should enable our children to stand on the shoulders of those that have gone before and create new and exciting forms of culture; things which may well help them fuel solutions to society’s problems, build our creative industries and help UK plc to survive the turmoil of Brexit. We want definitions of cultural capital to celebrate and embrace the different backgrounds, heritage, language and traditions of all the children living in this country."

"‘This leaves us in the paradoxical position that cultural education can simultaneously be a route to personal advancement, while entrenching class division at the level of society. This contention is clearly evidenced by the fact that the poorest state schools lack arts provision, while private schools invest heavily in the arts.’ John Holden, Visiting Professor University of Leeds, Cultural Fellow, King's College, London."

"The CLA believes strongly that this new Ofsted requirement constitutes an opportunity for schools to define the cultural capital that their children need and to think more widely than existing ‘legitimate culture’. This will ensure that their pupils are confident creators, able to be the ‘cultural omnivores’ that can make informed decisions about what culture they consume and participate in, and can articulate why it has value."

If you want to read the whole blog post or need more details go to the Cultural Learning Alliance website at culturallearningalliance.org.uk.