Q7 education system and cultural capital essay plan

1. DOES THE BRITISH EDUCATION
SYSTEM PLAY A PART IN
REPRODUCING CLASS
DIFFERENCES? CRITICALLY
DISCUSS WITH REFERENCE TO THE
CONCEPT OF ‘CULTURAL CAPITAL’.
BY JENNIFER PRICE

2. PICKING OUT THE IMPORTANT BITS
Does the British education system play a
part in reproducing class differences?
Critically discuss with reference to the concept
of ‘cultural capital’.

3. INTRODUCTION
 Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital
 Gave my own definition
 Gave a direct quote from Bourdieu
 Explained the quote in my own words e.g how it is
relevant to education
 Gave an example of why it was relevant e.g how idea of
‘social space’
 Sum up his main argument (how educational
achievements are not innate but inherited through capital)
 Breif sentence introducing the main text and how this will
help demonstrate the british education system, class
differences and cultural capital

4. MAIN BODY- FOCUSING IN 4 TEXTS
 Diane Reay ‘Cultural Trends’
 Fiona Devine ‘How parents help their
children get good jobs’
 Gillborn ‘Race, class and gender
intersections in the educational experiences
of the black middle class’
 Bourdieu ‘Education, culture, economy and
society’

5. MAIN BODY – EXAMPLES OF EDUCATION
POLICIES IN BRITAIN
 Gifted and talented programmes (found by
Reay), explain the intended aim of the
policy, discuss what Reay actually found in
her research and what this showed in
relation to Boudieu’s cultural capital
 Then look at critics e.g Gillborn not class
inequalities but race inequalities in gifted and
talented and explain what this shows

6. FURTHERMORE…
 Expand on Gillborns argument about race
and why this is the case (low teacher
expectations towards ethnic minorities) using
senarios in his text
 Show how this contests Bourdieu’s concept
of cultural capital (despite ethnic minorities
class they were still disadvantaged in the
education system)

7. INTRODUCE NEXT POLICY
 Parental involvement, explain intended aim
of the policy, use examples of research by
Reay and how this policy only works if
parents are educated properly
 Relate to Bourieu’s cultural capital (Reay’s
research demonstrates his theory)
 Criticise with Gillborn’s examples of race
(e.g despite a middle-class mother being
educated, her son was still disadvantaged in
school)

8. MAIN BODY
 Criticise Bourdieu with Fiona Devine
 Explain her argument (class is not important when
trying to succeed in education) and how this contests
Bourdieu’s cultural capital
 Discuss Goldthrope and how middle-class use their
economic capital to help them succeed
 Expand argument with examples from Reay
 E.g economic capital used to move to good
catchment areas and can chose private education
 Explain in terms of education system and how middle
class are still more advantaged over working-class

9. CONCLUSION- WEIGH UP ARGUMENTS
 Britain's education systems DOES (to an extent)
reproduce class differences (due to examples given)
 However those with cultural capital but not economic
capital can still succeed in education
 Explain how class difference are not always the main
difference in education system (e.g Gillborn’s
argument of race) as education systems is less rigid
according to the examples given by Fiona Devine
 Conclude how Britain's education systems mainly
benefits the white middle-class