Writing for The Leaders Council, Hey With Zion Primary School headteacher Andrew Clowes explores what is meant by 'Cultural Capital', a term used by Ofsted to explore how schools are broadening the horizons of its pupils.
Schools did not tend to talk about “Cultural Capital” before 2019.
Then Ofsted incorporated the term into its inspection handbook and we all had to consider: a) what were Ofsted referring to? and b) how were we accommodating this apparently new requirement? The curious among us also wondered whence this term came. More about that towards the end.
What is “cultural capital”?
“Cultural Capital” is understood at Hey with Zion as an enrichment and an extension of the bare bones of the National Curriculum to provide the children with experiences, knowledge and understanding of culture which will help them to make the most of their opportunities, now and into the future.
By introducing them to more than just what is specified in the National Curriculum, we endeavour to show them open doors through which they journey further in the future.
For example:
In English, just as in schools since time began, we teach children to speak, to listen, to read and to write. But more than this. We base our entire English curriculum around approved “core texts”- a bit like a primary school version of a canon of English Literature. So when our children leave us they are well read individuals, knowing literature which ranges from traditional fairy tales to esteemed authors and poets such as Julia Donaldson, Roald Dahl, Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson and Benjamin Zephaniah. In our time with us they progress from Shirley Hughes to Charles Dickens, Beatrix Potter to William Shakespeare.
Culture is a moving thing, and we consciously ensure that the literature to which we introduce our children moves with it. The “dead white men” argument. We name our houses after authors and ensure that within them there is black, there is white, male and female, LGBTQ+ also. In class story time, books are carefully chosen to address particular themes which are important in our society today. One such book, for example, told the tale of a boy refugee. We are exposing the children to literature which opens the door to reflection and empathy. We provide the children with opportunities to take part in a Choral Speaking competition, and invite many authors in to school to inspire the children. Visiting authors make the children feel such people are not out of reach, that they could achieve the same. One of my favourite visits was from an ex pupil of ours, Crystal Bennici, now a children’s author. The children were able to see her and think, “She was once like me. If she can do it, why not me?”
For me, that is cultural capital in a nutshell- to create the sense of empowerment in the children that they can achieve.
“If anyone can do it, why not me?”
We make them competent, and encourage confidence. Cultural capital is taught to develop competence in talking about and understanding the cultural contexts we inhabit, and developing the confidence to succeed. We have an “alumni” page on our website where ex pupils, now adult, have generously shared details of what they have since achieved with their lives: we have a solicitor, we have a police officer, we have teachers, nurses, we have one ex pupil who has travelled as far as Saudi Arabia, another even Australia. It is all to dismantle any chains of low expectation and enable the children to flourish as best they possibly can when they leave us. In “The Prophet”, Kahlil Gibran might have been writing to teachers when he wrote, “You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.” The better the base the truer the arrow flies.
The same applies in other subjects too.
In Science we teach Physics, Chemistry and Biology of course but every time we commence a new topic we also allocate each class a “class Scientist”. Hence by the time they leave us, they have learned also of Aristotle, Galileo, Edison, Newton, Marie Curie, Linnaeus and more.
In Geography we learn of the physical and human geography of the world, but also specifically of where we are located. We are an Oldham school and the River Medlock flows past us. We walk to its source, just a mile or so above a nearby reservoir, and chart its path to where it joins the River Irwell, itself a tributary of the River Mersey.
We are a partner school of Manchester City- we look at the badge and learn that the stripes represent the three rivers of Manchester (The Irwell, The Irk and the Medlock) and learn the club’s motto is written in Latin, the language of the people in our Ancient Romans topic, whose numbers we still learn today.
Throughout it all, the intention is the same: to teach all we are required to teach, but in a manner which connects with our children here and now, in the culture we are not just in, but of which we are part.
In Art we learn of the paintings and techniques of greats of the past: Turner, Constable, Picasso and Giacometti, also of local artists important to us: Helen Bradley, a very local artist, and L.S. Lowry. To foster the “Why not me?” attitude we have invited artists in to work with the children, most recently Chris Cyprus, and have had them visit his studio. The children don’t just learn to draw and paint, they also learn about artists so they can hold their own in conversations, and, perhaps most importantly, feel connected: that to be successful is possible.
Likewise in History we learn the chronologies laid down in the National Curriculum but we add specific units for our own children. A black history topic, which touches on the issue of racism, a local history unit which allows for coverage of the role of local women in the suffrage movement, also the boom and decline of the local cotton industry; and Early Islamic Civilisation, which touches on the heritage of some of our children. The children learn not just of the history of others, but of themselves. They learn how the past has influenced the present; and by implication how our actions now will have consequences in the future.
In Music the children are introduced to music by Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, Wagner, Rachmaninov and Morricone, The Beatles and Kate Bush too. They sing in a music festival, have performed alongside the Halle Orchestra.
As a school, we are improving all the time and shall continue to endeavour to do so.
But where did this term “cultural capital” come from?
The 2019 Ofsted handbook’s relevant wording is thus: As part of making the judgement about the quality of education, inspectors will consider the extent to which schools are equipping pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. Our understanding of ‘knowledge and cultural capital’ is derived from the following wording in the national curriculum:
‘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.’
It may surprise some, given that we have had a Conservative government now for over a decade, to learn that the term “cultural capital” came from French sociology in the 1970s. It was used by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, himself an ex student of Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser.
Bourdieu did not see himself as a Marxist but took Marx’s concept of “capital” and focussed on cultural capital as opposed to economic capital as a means of acquiring (and preserving) power.
We all feel more comfortable in some environments than others, but for Bourdieu there was no natural hierarchy that meant some levels of society could appreciate fine art and music, and others could not. I think Bourdieu would approve of us teaching cultural capital in schools- and making sure all of our children, not just those from the wealthy elite, can have access to the best that has been thought and said, and the highest quality of education.
What a wonderful world we live in: Ofsted can draw on sociology with its roots in Marxism, and the poor, in their education at least, can access the richness of all that society has produced.
