Social Class Privilege In Education

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My name is Kate Looney and I have just recently finished my final year school placement with you. I would first like to say thank you for the opportunity, I have really enjoyed my time here. I am writing this letter to share with you my outlook on the topic of social class privilege in education. The experiences I have gained at this school have opened my eyes to this topic and I would like to further explore it through this letter. In this letter, I will outline social class privilege and its effects in this school and in the wider context of education. I will draw attention to the good practices being undertaken in this school and also point to some key opportunities for change. I have included field notes to support this topic, which provide evidence that I have reflected deeply on the complexity of this subject. Throughout the letter, I will draw on relevant literature on the topic. Firstly, I will introduce some key theoretical perspectives on social class …show more content…

It suggests that our backgrounds, values and experiences that we have had, continually shape our opinions and decisions that we make. Bourdieu, P. (1990) The Logic of Practice, Cambridge: Polity Press. Bourdieu, P. and Passeron, J. C. (1977) Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture, London: Sage. Feehan, C. (2007) ‘Why streaming doesn’t work’, Irish Independent, 31st October. Lareau, A. (1987) Social class differences in family-school relationships: the importance of cultural capital, Sociology of Education, 60 (2): 73-85. Lynch, K. and Baker, J. (2005) ‘Equality in Education: An Equality Condition Perspective’, Theory and Research in Education, 3(2) 131-164. Lynch, K. and Lodge, A. (2002) Equality and Power in Schools: Redistribution, Recognition and Representation, London: Routledge Falmer. MacRuairc, G. (2009) ‘Dip, dip, sky blue, who’s it? NOT YOU’: children’s experiences of standardised testing: a socio-cultural analysis’, Irish Educational Studies, 28(1)

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