Cultural capital has become an oft-repeated phrase in education. It’s included in Ofsted’s inspection framework, it’s frequently referred to when talking about disadvantaged children, and it’s become closely linked to the levelling up agenda.
First coined by the French sociologist, philosopher and anthropologist, Pierre Bourdieu, the term refers to the accumulation of skills, experiences and possessions one naturally acquires simply through belonging to a particular social class.
Across education, it’s become widely accepted that a person’s level of cultural capital is a huge indicator of how well they are able to succeed academically and engage in wider society.
But how exactly can schools impact this?
Historically, increasing children’s cultural capital has meant trips to the theatre and museums, but increasingly schools are turning to international partnerships to push forward this work.
“Building cultural capital through international work is especially for those children who don’t get the opportunity outside of school to experience different cultures and countries,” says Tom Cadman, a Year 2 teacher at Littlecoates Primary Academy in Grimsby.
“It allows them to open their eyes to the world and see that the streets surrounding the school are not the whole world, and that there’s so much more out there for them to explore.”
Ways to go about this vary and the opportunities offered by organisations like the British Council are plentiful.
Partnerships with international schools
At Littlecoates, one of the teaching assistants is Romanian, and she facilitated a partnership with a school in Romania. It began last academic year, and a number of shared projects have been completed between the two schools.
Cadman’s class completed a local history project about Grimsby and created a video about the town, which was shared with the school in Romania, who then, in turn, sent a video back about their local town. The children were encouraged to think about the similarities and differences between the two places.
If you don’t have an international staff member who can lead on the partnership, Cadman recommends reaching out to the British Council.
“In the past, we have found partner schools through the British Council, but one of the reasons we also wanted to choose Romania is because around 18 per cent of our children are Romanian and that is their first language,” he explains.
“We thought it was important to highlight their culture and integrate that into the school day and allow the other children who are unfamiliar with that culture to experience it.”
Events in the Romanian calendar are highlighted throughout the year, and one assembly was delivered in Romanian, to give children an insight into how it feels to not necessarily understand the language.
Cadman says the partnership, and the work around it, has had a positive effect across the board: the Romanian pupils have grown in confidence and appear more settled into school life, and the others have built a real understanding of their peers’ culture and history.
Integrating sustainability goals into the curriculum
Cadman also recommends embedding the UN Sustainable Development Goals into the curriculum where appropriate. This, he says, gives children an understanding of global issues and how they affect people all over the world, which then broadens their understanding of the similarities and differences between their country and others.
At Littlecoates, all teachers have had training on the goals and where they could be embedded into the existing curriculum.
“For example, the global goal of responsible production and consumption can be taught in a geography topic around pollution,” he says.
“Our teachers know that when they’re teaching those topics, that goal could make up one session of a three-week topic.”
The goals are also linked and referenced in whole-school assemblies, he adds. For example, an assembly about the jobs pupils can volunteer to do during the school year links to the goal of peace, justice and strong institutions. On Antarctica Day, an assembly on understanding the impact of global warming on Antarctica and the importance of preserving the ice in Antarctica links to the goal of life on land.
“All the children now recognise which icons relate to which global goal and they are becoming familiar with the themes relating to each one. Including them in weekly assembly supports our whole-school approach to integrating the goals into the curriculum,” says Neville Wilkinson, principal at Littlecoates.
The International School Award
Applying for the British Council’s International School Award can really help to focus this work, Cadman adds. As schools go through the process, and build up to the accreditation level, they are asked to do seven activities that develop their understanding of different countries and cultures.
At Littlecoates, each year group took responsibility for one activity, three of which included working with the partnership school in Romania. Other year groups explored different countries and cultures: in Year 4, for example, the children set up and ran a French café, where they learned language relating to French food, designed menus and then spent an afternoon at the café eating and talking.
The key to making this achievable for teachers, says Cadman, is to embed these activities within the existing curriculum. The impact, he adds, has been obvious to see.
“The children in our early years were able to spend some time looking at Spanish and French transitions, which allowed the younger children, in particular, to recognise that countries around the world differ to the UK. The children were very excited to use their new words and language that they had learned. Since the activities, the children in Reception started answering the register in different languages,” he says.
“The French café activity was a successful and enjoyable one for the children as they had the opportunity to apply their understanding of the French language to a context. This gave their learning a real purpose, which enhanced their enjoyment and exposure to French food and music. The class teacher noted that she saw an improvement in the children’s French speaking ability following the project.”
The British Council’s International School Award celebrates international work in schools and helps to embed an international ethos across the curriculum. To find out more and apply, visit the International School Award site
