In the field with two rural primary school head teachers in England

ABSTRACT

The research focuses on the complexities associated with contemporary rural primary school leadership. The paper draws on in-depth ethnographic research undertaken in two contrasting English rural primary schools and their surrounding community over a period of three years and in particular the experiences and perspectives of the two head teachers from these schools. The paper is conceptually informed by the work of Bourdieu [1984. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul] and his work around field, habitus and capital as a means of understanding practice. The paper contends that as the neo-liberal economic field increasingly contaminates the field of schooling so a contextual understanding of the complex and shifting social space which a head teacher occupies, including their habitus and the capital they deploy, is of central importance to understanding practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Primary school
• head teacher
• ethnography
• Bourdieu
• Leadership

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Both village names are pseudonyms.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Economic and Social Research Council: [grant number RES-000-22-3412].

Notes on contributors

Carl Bagley

Carl Bagley is Head of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work and Professor of Educational Sociology at Queen's University Belfast.

Sam Hillyard

Sam Hillyard is a Reader in Sociology at Durham University.