Mind the Gap: How Economically Disadvantaged Students Navigate Elite Private Schools in Ontario
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MIND THE GAP: HOW ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS NAVIGATE ELITE PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN ONTARIO by William George Peat A dissertation submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by William George Peat 2020 MIND THE GAP: HOW ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS NAVIGATE ELITE PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN ONTARIO William George Peat Doctor of Philosophy Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education University of Toronto 2020 Abstract “Mind the gap” is a qualitative study rooted in the sociology of education, dealing with educational inequality in Canada. It asked: what is the experience of working-class students in elite secondary schools, and are the benefits of achieving social mobility worth the costs? In a country whose populace has long seen itself as middle class, but where social inequality is a growing concern and social mobility increasingly rare, the study examined the journey of three working-class students seeking to become upwardly mobile by attending elite private schools in Ontario. The study examined their experiences, and employed a combination of semistructured, in-depth interviews, and follow-up conversations. It also drew on relationships that formed as a result of them, as well as on the researcher’s knowledge of the culture of the schools the students attended. In addition, it drew upon the lived experience of the researcher, who shares similar elements of the participants’ socioeconomic background. The data produced was used to develop literary and visual portraits. The process was collaborative and enabled the participants to become co-creators in the creation of their portraits, which were subject to analyses. More broadly, the study examined the ways in which the participants acquired social capital, and the role this capital played facilitating the acquisition of the Three C’s (credentials, connections, confidence), and personal agency. It explored the ways the participants’ social networks evolved. It revealed that the unconditional support of the participants’ families mediated their experience ii of habitus clivé, and that elite private schools provided a pathway to become socially mobile. The study affirmed that the benefits of achieving social mobility outweighed the costs, whether they were psychic, social, or financial. It also identified trace elements of class status that endured, and demonstrated that elite schools served as incubators of innovation. It revealed that the policies, practices, and cultures that characterize elite private schools in Ontario are worthy of consideration for policy makers and practitioners, as they seek to assist students to become socially mobile, wherever they may be. iii Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and express my thanks to Brenda Zwolak and Bob Neibert, my fellow practitioners, whose support was invaluable, particularly in the early stages of the project. I wish to thank Dr. Reva Joshee, my supervisor, for her enduring belief in both the importance of the study and in my ability to carry it out. My thanks go to Dr. Joe Flessa and Dr. Carol Campbell for being willing to serve on my committee and for their encouragement throughout the process. In addition, heartfelt thanks to my daughter, Lauren, for her providing detailed feedback on various drafts of the thesis, and to my wife, Barbara, for her enduring support, as well as to Meryl Greene, my editor and APA guru, for her comments on the manuscript. Finally, it is important to note, I did not take this journey alone. To my fellow PhD travelers, thank you for undertaking the journey with me. As I believe this study illustrates, we ultimately succeed or fail together. iv Dedication To Barbara, Lauren, and Heather, the three most important people in my life. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Dedication ........................................................................................................................................v List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... xii List of Appendices ....................................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................1 The Rationale for This Study .......................................................................................................1 The Context of This Study: Canada .............................................................................................3 Rationale for Study: Strangers in a Strange Land ........................................................................4 Where I Situate Myself as the Researcher....................................................................................6 Narrative Inquiry: Portraiture .....................................................................................................15 Overview of the Structure of the Thesis .....................................................................................19 Chapter 2 Elite Private Schools in Canada ....................................................................................20 Elite Independent Secondary School Defined: A Thumbnail Sketch ........................................20 Private Vis-à-Vis Independent Schools ..................................................................................21 Further Defining Elite Secondary Education .........................................................................22 A Canadian Private School Mosaic ............................................................................................24 Parent Motivations for Attending Private Schools .................................................................25 Private Education in Canada by the Numbers ........................................................................27 Diversity in Private Schools in Canada ..................................................................................29 Private School Culture ............................................................................................................31 Chapter 3 Literature Review: An Episodic Conversation ..............................................................33 Bourdieu on Reproduction and Transformation .........................................................................33 Hobsbawm and the Prism Through Which We Approach the Field Under Study.....................36 The Determinates of Achievement in Canadian Schools ...........................................................37 Private Schooling: The Greater Divide, and the Public School Effect ......................................38 Social Capital and Social Class: Concepts for Explaining Academic Success and the Failure to Achieve ................................................................................................................41 The State of Educational Reform ...............................................................................................46 Exposure to Better Neighbourhoods ......................................................................................47 A Model of Social Mediations, Unwitting Agents of the System, and the Symbolic and Emancipatory Role of Credentials .......................................................................................47 vi Relatively Disadvantaged Children in Private Schools: Evidence From Their Experience ........................................................................................................................49 The Increasingly Slender Pathway Towards Social Mobility ....................................................50 An Emergent, Modest Body of Literature on Individual Social Mobility Journeys .......................................................................................................................51 Recent Literature on Social Class and Education in Canada .....................................................52 Chapter 4 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework: A Broad-Based, Interdisciplinary Approach ............................................................................................................56 Theoretical Foundations .............................................................................................................56 Definition of Key Terms ............................................................................................................58 Social Mobility .......................................................................................................................59 Social Capital..........................................................................................................................60 Social Class ............................................................................................................................62 Canadian Notions of Social Class ..........................................................................................63 Conceptual Framework ..............................................................................................................64 Personal Agency .....................................................................................................................68