An investigation into the effect of attending an elite independent boys’ school on working class children who were awarded free places

[摘要] King Edward’s Birmingham, an independent school, provides wholly free places to some 10% of its annual intake of 120 boys. This research investigates how such boys fare academically at school and how their schooling could affect their subsequent lives. Because they have passed the fierce entrance examination without the benefits middle class children might have received through attending feeder prep schools with perhaps additional coaching, the meritocratic thesis suggests they should excel in the school and achieve impressive qualifications. Conversely, the work of Bourdieu and Bernstein indicates that dissonance between home and school environments could create social difficulties and cause these boys to underperform significantly. The results show that most free-place boys achieved results similar to their fee-paying counterparts although few really excelled and a noticeable minority struggled throughout school and gained disappointing final grades. On leaving education, those from the working class prove less likely to enter the elite professions and those who do so advance less than their middle class peers. These differences could be attributed to lower amounts of cultural and social capital. A change in the focus of extra-curricular activities at King Edward’s to target the building of these forms of capital could prove beneficial.

[发布机构] University:University of Birmingham;Department:School of Education

[关键词] L Education;LB Theory and practice of education;LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools