Pedagogy, Class and Culture
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PEDAGOGY, CLASS AND CULTURE: A Study of Young Children's Learning at Home and School Elizabeth Helen Brooker Institute of Education University of London Ph.D. 2000 1 Abstract This study investigates the home and school learning of a sample of sixteen four- year-old children who started school in a working-class neighbourhood in an English provincial town in September 1997. The children, from English and Bangladeshi families, are viewed as embedded cases within a single case study of a Reception class. The study uses mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, within a broadly ethnographic approach, to descnbe the children's learning in their families, and to monitor their progress throughout the Reception year. The children's attainments were assessed at age 4, when they entered school, and again the following July. The study constructs and analyses its data on the children's learning within a framework of concepts derived from the social theories of Basil Bernstein and Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and the forms of capital are used to describe and analyse the ways in which children acquire their individual 'systems of dispositions' towards learning in their families. Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse is employed to compare the curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation practised in children's homes with that of their Reception classroom. Both theorists attribute the differential educational and social success of children from different backgrounds to the symbolic control which transmits broad macro power relations into socialising institutions such as families and schools. The thesis focuses in turn on: the habitus and capital of individual families within their social and ethnic groups; the curriculum and pedagogy of children's homes; the pedagogic discourse of the classroom; children's adaptation to school, and attainments on entry; and their Reception progress and outcomes. Throughout the thesis a series of individual case studies illustrates the ways in which the regulative and instructional discourses of home and school influence children's social and cognitive development, and their school achievement. 2 Thanks To the children and families who allowed me to explore their lives so that we could 'find out more about how children learn'; To the All Saints' staff who let me watch what happens when children go to school; To Iram and Angela, a dream team from start to finish; and to Pete, for everything. 3 CONTENTS Chapter 1 Introduction 12 PART ONE: BACKGROUND AND METHODS Chapter 2 Theorising the field 17 2.1. Group differentials in educational achievement 17 2.2. Perspectives from the sociology of education 21 2.3. Bernstein 26 The social causes of educational inequality 26 Structure 28 Codes and rules 29 Power and Control: Classz:fication and framing 31 Pedagogic discourse 33 2.4. Bourdieu 35 Origins 35 Education as Symbolic Violence 38 Habitus 39 Forms of capital 41 Cultural capital and schooling 42 Fields and practice 45 2.5. Using Bernstein and Bourdieu 46 Comm onalities 46 Applications 48 2.6. The theoretical framework of the study 49 Chapter 3 Investigating the field: research into children's school achievement 3.1. Introduction 52 3.2. Family cultures and pedagogies 53 Class and cultural sources ofparenting practices 53 Family language and literacy practices 57 Parental interest in education 62 4 3.3. School culture and pedagogy 63 Transition to school 64 Teacher typifications and expectations 66 Curriculum access 70 Organisation and con trot 72 3.4. Home-school connections 74 Pros and cons of 'parent involvement' 75 Obstacles to involvement 76 Teacher perspectives 78 Minority parents 'perspectives 78 3.5. Summary 80 Chapter 4 Research Methodology and Methods 4.1. Introduction: ethnography and theory 82 4.2. Ethnographies of schooling 84 4.3. Critical ethnography 88 4.4. Ethics and research knowledge 91 The ethics of research relationships 91 Insider and outsider knowledge: the problem offamiliarity 92 4.5. Research design 96 The case study approach 96 The school 98 The sample 99 4.6. Data construction 103 Mixing methods 103 The home context 104 The school context 106 Individual cases 108 4.7. Analysis and theorising 110 5 PART TWO THE HOME CONTEXT OF CHILDREN'S LEARNING Introduction 113 Chapter 5 Family values: investigating family habitus 5.1. Introduction: using habitus and capital 115 5.2. Forms of family capital 116 Economic capital 116 Social capital 120 Cultural capital 124 Mothers' experiences of schooling Language and communication Family literacy practices 5.3. Family habitus 132 Strategies for economic survival 133 Strategies for social recognition 134 Earning cultural capital 136 Expectations and aspirations 137 5.4. Case studies in family habitus 140 Troy, Joni, Mohammed, Khiernssa 5.5. Summary 145 Chapter 6 Preparation for school: the curriculum and pedagogy of the home 6.1. Introduction 147 6.2. Sources of family practices 148 Parental ethnotheories 148 Views of childhood Views about play. Theories about intelligence and ability Parental knowledge 154 Knowledge about the pedagogy ofplay Knowledge of primary school pedagogy 6 6.3. Invisible pedagogy: the regulative discourse of the home 159 Time and space 159 Responsibilities 162 6.4. Visible and invisible pedagogies: the instructional discourse and the home curriculum 166 'School knowledge' 169 Literacy learning Mathematical learning 0 racy Expectations of school 174 Children's perceptions of the home curriculum 175 6.5. Case studies of children's preparation for school 176 Cameron, Jemma, Abdul Rahman, Tuhura 6.6. Summary 182 PART THREE THE SCHOOL CONTEXT OF CHILDREN'S LEARNING The researcher's perspective 183 Starting school at All Saints', a naturalistic account 183 Chapter 7 School culture: the pedagogic discourse of All Saints' Primary 7.1. Introduction 187 The classroom as case study 187 School culture 187 7.2. The nested contexts of the case study classroom 189 The national context 189 The local context 190 The school context 192 7.3. Starting school at All Saints': the teachers' perspective 194 The All saints' model teacher 194 The pedagogy of the Reception class: freedom and independence, play and fun 195 7 Home-school relations 199 7.4. The Reception classroom 202 The modality of All Saints' Reception 202 Regulative discourse: the social order 203 Instructional discourse: the discursive order 207 The instructional discourse of school literacy 211 7.5. Case studies in pedagogic discourse 215 Registration, Outings, Home-school reading, Worksheets 7.6. Summary 221 Chapter 8 Becoming a pupil: the experiences of children and parents 8.1. Introduction: the school and secondary socialisation 222 8.2. Transition: children's adaptation to their new setting 223 8.3. Assessments 230 School assessments of the children as pupils 230 School culture: the Early Years Profile 233 Official knowledge: the LEA baseline 236 Non-school assessment 239 Predicting literacy: phonological awareness scores 240 Interpreting the assessments 241 8.4. Getting involved in learning 242 8.5. Being a pupil: children's perceptions 247 8.6. Becoming a parent 251 8.7. Case studies: becoming a pupil 254 Amadur, Kaly, Jelika, Joshua 8.8. Summary 260 PART FOUR: UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN'S OUTCOMES Chapter 9 Evaluations and explanations of children's learning 9.1. Introduction 263 9.2. Evaluations of children's Learning 264 Parents 264 School 268 8 Research evaluations 270 9.3. Outcomes 271 Cultural capital: children's cognitive gains 271 Social development: becoming a successful pupil 273 Dispositions towards learning 276 9.4. Explanations 280 Home variables 280 Family habitus and capital Parental education and expectation Parental ethnotheories: childhood, intelligence, learning Family language and literacy Family cultural capital Attendance School effects 283 Boundary effects 285 9.5. Explanations from structural factors 286 Class and capital 286 Race and ethnicity 289 Interactions of gender with class and culture 291 Family structure and composition 292 9.6. Case studies in children's outcomes 293 Robbie, Kelly, Abu Bokkar, Rufia 9.7. Summary 299 Chapter 10 Reflections on the research Answering questions 301 Exploring theory 302 Policies, practice and play 304 The future 306 References 307 Appendices A-F 330 9 List of tables and figures in the text Tables 1. Sample of children from a Reception class 102 2. Father I male caregiver information 117 3. Maternal education of 16 sample children 126 4. LEA Baseline: Children's Personal and Social Development 231 5. 'Involvement': Children's PSD ratings 233 6. LEA Baselines: Core subjects, and age when assessed 237 7. Baseline speaking and listening scores 238 8. Baseline reading scores 238 9. Baseline writing scores 238 10. Baseline maths scores 238 11. Age-equivalent BAS scores (October 1997) [in months] 239 12. Children's phonological awareness [age in October 1997] 241 13. Whole-class responses to survey on 'learning' 249 14. Group means for Sept / July Baseline scores, and progress 271 15. Group means and progress: boys and girls 272 16. Children's individual scores in July, with 'value added' 272 17. Children's social attributes identified in school evaluations 274 18. Percentage of possible attendance, 1.9.97 - 1.7.98 288 19. Punctuality, compared with percentage attendance 288 Figures 1. Locations of family practices constitutive of social and cultural capital, and their likely effectiveness in supporting children's school learning 121 2. The curriculum and pedagogy of the home 166 3. Pedagogic Discourse: Four varieties 210 10 Summary of abbreviations used in the text 1. In common with most writings on Bernstein, this study employs the following short forms for his major works CCC1 Class, Codes and Control, volume 1: Theoretical Studies Towards a Sociology of Language (1971) CCC2 Class, Codes and Control, volume 2: Applied Studies Towards a Sociology of Language (1973) CCC3 Class, Codes and Control, volume 3: Towards a Theory of educational Transmissions (1975) CCC4 Class, Codes and Control, volume 4: The Structuring of Pedagogic Discourse (1990) 2.