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Abstract
This article aims to revisit the relationship between school-level variables and students’ educational opportunities through the lens of institutional habitus. This approach is particularly well suited to explore the notion of school culture because it brings to the forefront the impact of social context, avoiding some of the limitations typically associated with the long-dominant perspective of school effectiveness research. Drawing on an ethnographic approach, the article explores how institutional habitus unfolds in two urban public secondary schools in the city of Barcelona. Breaking the notion down into three main components (educational status, organizational practices and expressive order), the analysis identifies two main types of institutional habitus – one based on action and inclusion, and another based on reaction and expulsion. Ultimately, these results give insight into the complex interplay of these three components, as well as on their combined impact on students’ educational opportunities.
Notes
1. The field work was conducted during the 2014/15 school year and took into consideration different sources of information, including semi-structured interviews with teaching staff, focus groups, non-participant observation in school board sessions and other staff meetings, and documentation produced by schools (pedagogical and management projects, school websites, etc.).
2. Lower secondary education in Spain includes Grades 7–10 and is compulsory up to the age of 16.
3. Secondary schools in Catalonia can organize smaller groups of 10–15 students in Grades 9 and 10 called ‘Open Classrooms’. In these groups, teachers offer a diversified curricular content, pedagogical methodologies and evaluation criteria for students with learning difficulties and/or low motivation with schooling.