Bourdieu: Theory of Class Distinction

We had our poster presentation last week on a Theorist in Education, Pierre Bourdieu. Bourdieu (1930-2002) was well-known for his book, 'Distinction: A Social Critique on the Judgement of Taste). He was famous for his key concepts such as species of capital, cultural and social reproduction, fields, habitus and symbolic violence.

One of Bourdieu's famous theories is the 'Theory of Class Distinction'.

In it, Bourdieu argues that it is the culture of the dominant groups, and therefore their cultural capital, which is embodied in schools. Such cultural capital is assumed by the school to be the natural and only proper type of cultural capital and is therefore legitimised. Students who possess this legitimate cultural capital use it to gain educational capital in the form of qualifications. Students of the lower classes are therefore disadvantaged, and to gain qualifications, they must exchange their own (usually working-class) cultural capital for legitimate cultural capital, i.e. they must act against their instincts and expectations to learn a new way of relating to the world. In turn, many such students will drop out of school. Hence, schools perpetuate social reproduction by encouraging less-privileged students to eliminate themselves from the system, leaving only a small number who have internalised the values of the dominant classes and used them as their own.

A way out of this cycle would be for schools to provide working-class students the cultural capital that middle-class students get from their families, hence ensuring more equality among students in schools. With self-awareness, teachers and intellectuals could also watch against teaching to the dominant class.

My personal take on this: In my daily teaching, I have also noticed that the lower class students also lack confidence as compared from their peers who come from a different class. From my own personal experience, I remembered my father trying to equip me with a higher 'social capital' (by providing me with a good conducive environment to study, providing me with a computer, buying additional General Knowledge books, subscribing to high level educational magazines which is really costly) although we came from a low-income family. As teachers too, we should try to be more aware of our students who come from the lower classes so we can provide more equality among the education system. There have been monetary schemes, such as the Financial Assistant Subsidy, which are also given to students from the lower classes, in the hope to bring about an equality in the classes. To quote Bourdieu, “Enlightenment is on the side of those who turn their spotlight on our blinkers.”

Term 2 Wk 3: Assessment for Learning in Physics

Term 2 Wk 2: The beginning of The AFL Movement

This is the beginning of my AFL movement...

At the start of the class, I stated the lesson objectives of what I was teaching. Eg: "By the end of the lesson, you must be able to draw the pattern of magnetic field due to currents in straight wires and in solenoids and state the effect on the magnetic field of changing the magnitude and/or direction of the current." Notice the enlarged and the bold words - these are the key concepts that I phrased repeatedly while teaching the lesson...

And then I started teaching the lesson. Via PowerPoint slides, applets and You-Tube videos that I felt was necessary and would be able to provide a better explanation than me. Just like a picture can say a thousand words, a video can do much more than that! At times, I will pause my lessons to allow them to absorb the ideas.I will ask afew questions that make my students think and get them to discuss with their partners.

Once after the section is over, I asked them to keep their notebooks and worksheets away. "Now, take out your test book!" I will then quiz them on what they have just covered...eg: I will test them on how to draw the patterns of magnetic fields for straight wires and solenoids. One point to note is that since I do not have the time to prepare the worksheets for the quizzes, thus the questions will be written on the whiteboard. To help me with it, I try to make the questions brief , using as minimum words as possible so it is easier for students to copy down. The questions are also of certain type- to test their very basic concepts, with reference from the O-Level TYS.

Once done, I will get them to swap books with their friends. We will go through the answers and they will do peer assessment. This will help them to mark their peers answers and know what is expected from the answers. A score is given at the end, which is to be recorded in the contents page.

Once over, we will move on to the next section. If I have time, I will give an overall quiz at the end of the lesson, based on the sections that we have covered in class for the day. As I mark, I will compare with their previous test and indicate (using stamps as this is the most easiest) on whether they did a 'GOOD JOB'or whether they have 'IMPROVED' or whether their work was 'NEAT' or 'MESSY!' The test book will need to be marked by the next lesson, where it will be given back to students, to read the comments I have made and to continue with a series of other tests. Kids must feel that they are able to learn, else there will be no learning.

I suppose this IS AFL, as students are able to gain feedback for their learning almost immediately. I feel my students are more on task and engaged, and I can have up till 2 tests for a double-period to gain feedback on their level of learning. I recalled that my Chemistry teacher, Ms Shanthi, who taught me for O Levels Chemistry, also used this same very technique. I really enjoyed her lessons and she never fails to produce distinction results....it was awesome! Well the difference between us is that, she started this when we were in Sec 3...while I am only starting this while I am teaching Sec 4 students. I guess it is better to start now, than never...