“Viewing the First-Year student
experience in Higher Education
through a Cultural Capital
Lens”.
John D. Noble
Institute for Access Studies
Overview
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Cultural Capital
Rationale
Method
Findings
Conclusion
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Cultural Capital (1)
• Concept formulated by Pierre Bourdieu
• Looking at the unequal academic achievement
of children from different social classes
“By pursuing appropriate ‘cultural investment strategies’
within the family, some social groups were able to
ensure that their children optimized the yield from
education”.
(Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977)
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Cultural Capital (2)
“Elite education requires prior familiarity
with élite cultural codes and students who,
because of a lack of pre-university
experience, are unfamiliar with these
codes find it difficult to achieve
educational success”.
(Longden, 2004)
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Cultural Capital (3)
Bourdieu’s Three forms of Cultural Capital:
• Embodied state – directly linked to and incorporated
within the individual and represents what they know and
can do.
• Objectified state – represented by objects and goods
such as books, paintings, music, instruments and
machines.
• Institutionalized capital – represented by a world of
certificates and qualifications – a world of credentials.
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Rationale (1)
• The Widening Participation Agenda
• UK Government target to raise participation rates
amongst 18 to 30 year olds to 50% by 2010
• Participation rates in the UK increasing (44%) but
“…over 75% of professional families send their
children to Higher Education compared with less
than 16% of children of parents in manual
occupations”. (Longden, 2002)
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Rationale (2)
• What are the barriers to inclusion and
engagement for students from non-traditional
backgrounds?
Academic
Economic
Social
Cultural
(Quinn et al 2005)
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Rationale (3)
“If the university is perceived as a culture,
then student engagement can be viewed as
becoming literate in this culture. This
insight makes more apparent the crucial
nature of the interrelationships between
students’ cultural capital and institutional
discourses, as well as the consequences
for transition and retention”.
(Lawrence, 2005)
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Rationale (4)
“The Big Question”
“What relationship is there between an
individual’s cultural capital and their
likelihood of becoming and remaining a full
participant as a learner in Higher
Education?”
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Method (1)
• Questionnaire (adapted from Sullivan (2003)).
Increased Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient value
(.870)
• Measures of individual participation in cultural
activities and pastimes
• Parental occupations and educational
qualifications
• Family participation in cultural activities and
pastimes
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Method (2)
• Questionnaire administered to 396 students
across three institutions
• Responses entered through SPSS to calculate
an individual “Cultural Capital” score
• Students selected from upper and lower
quartiles to produce contrasting cultural capital
groups
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Method (3)
• Focus groups formed
• Questions concerned with information
gathering, perceptions of university life,
preparation and strategies which may lead
to successful engagement in Higher
Education
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Tracking Sample
• 32 students selected; 18 high cultural capital
students and 14 low cultural capital students
• 5 students withdrew from project before
enrolment at university; 3 students took a gap
year and 2 students could not be contacted
• Students remaining: 16 Hcc, 11Lcc
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Method (4)
• Email contact made with all students upon entry
to university
• October 2005 – transition questions
• February 2006 - “How is it going so far?”
questions
• April 2006 – Cultural capital effect questions
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Findings (Preparation) (1)
• Hcc students get information from family and
work independently to find out about courses,
universities and attendance at Open Days
“Everyone in my family has been to university,
cousins, aunties and uncles so I’ve just picked
up on that”.
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Findings (Preparation) (2)
“My selection of course and institution was
made almost entirely by myself. Students
who may not have had as much support
and encouragement from parents as I had
may not have been as thorough in their
research”. (Hcc student)
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Findings (Preparation) (3)
• Lcc students rely on information given
through schools/colleges, prospectuses
and the internet
“I just looked at the prospectuses and the
internet and went from there”.
“I listed about six universities and then looked at
the prospectuses”.
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Findings (Preparation) (4)
• Both Hcc and Lcc students recognised the
difficulty of preparing for every eventuality.
“I don’t think anything can really prepare you for uni. I
thought I was prepared and I didn’t think I would be
homesick but once you get there you are on your own”.
(Lcc)
“There are aspects of uni life that one can never be
prepared for until they become a student, such as depth
of study and independence both in study and everyday
life”. (Hcc)
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Findings (Transition) (1)
“My parents have given me much support, both
emotional and financial which has helped me to
settle into university life”.
(Hcc student)
“Support from family and friends has helped me
in the fact that they have been and still are there
for me if I am struggling in my classes or just
struggling in general”.
(Lcc student)
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Findings (Transition) (2)
“We are too busy to remember home most of the
time. You get stuck in and get on with it”.
(Hcc student)
“As I am now studying independently my family
has left me to my own devices and given me the
space to grow”.
(Hcc student)
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Findings (Engagement) (1)
“Make sure you join at least one society,
preferably 2 or 3. Societies will guarantee you
some really close friends with common
interests”.
(Hcc student)
“Never shut yourself away. Always have your
door open to people and never isolate yourself”.
(Hcc student)
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Findings (Engagement) (2)
• Lcc students may be more likely to live off
campus. This may present barriers to
engagement
“Just get involved in everything you can. I have
struggled due to living at home. I find it hard to
socialize due to not living on campus”. (Lcc
student)
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Tracking Sample
• Of 16 in high cultural capital group, 2 did not
complete their first year. One changed course
within the same university and the other reapplied to a different university. All 16 remain in
Higher Education
• Of 11 in low cultural capital group, 2 left their
course within two weeks and contact lost with a
third
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Conclusion (1)
• It is possible to measure students’ cultural
capital with a good degree of confidence
• Cultural capital does make a difference to
students’ initial experience of university and the
likelihood of retention
• Key factors in helping Lcc students engage with
the university experience – living on campus
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Conclusion (2)
• Cultural Capital makes a real difference to
the way in which students approach
decision making about universities
• Hcc students may show propensity for
greater independence in Higher Education
setting
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Conclusion (3)
• Answering “The Big Question”!
This research would appear to indicate
that the higher a student’s level of cultural
capital the more likely that student is to
become and remain a FULL participant as
a learner in Higher Education
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References
• Bourdieu, P. and Passeron, J.C. (1977) Reproduction in Education,
Society and Culture. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications
• Lawrence, J. (2005) Re-conceptualising attrition and retention:
integrating theoretical research and student perspectives. Studies in
Learning, Evaluation, Innovation and Development 2(3), pp1633
• Longden, B. (2002) Retention rates – renewed interest but whose
interest is being served? Research Papers in Education 17(1) pp 329
• Longden, B. (2004) Interpreting student early departure from Higher
Education through the lens of cultural capital. Tertiary Education and
Management 10(2) pp121-138
• Quinn, J., Thomas, L., Casey, L., Thexton, W. and Noble, J. (2005) From
life disaster to lifelong learning: Re-thinking working class ‘drop-out’ from
higher education. Staffordshire University, York Publishing Services
• Sullivan, A. (2003) Cultural Capital, Rational choice and education
inequalities. Unpublished PhD Thesis
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Contact details
• Email:
[email protected]
• Tel:
+44 (0) 1782 294908
• Address: Staffordshire University,
Institute for Access Studies,
Brindley Building,
Leek Road,
Stoke-on-Trent ST4 2DF
United Kingdom
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