Abstract:
This paper engages with the challenge of educating in contexts of diversity by posing the question, 'How do relationships matter for student participation in diverse contexts'? Engaging with Pierre Bourdieu's notion of social capital, and Bonny Norton's theory of investment, this paper proposes a conceptualisation of participation as relational investment. Participation as relational investment offers a more nuanced approach to understanding relationships as facilitative (and inhibitory) of diverse participatory dispositions, including those considered as 'risky' forms of participation. Literature often defines student participation as active or agentic vis-a-vis passive or responsive. This paper argues against such labels, whereby students labelled as 'passive participants' are positioned at a deficit, needing to overcome individual attributes to become agentic. 'Relational investment,' on the other hand, locates the problem of (passive) participation outside of individual student disposition and attends to the social arrangements that make all forms of participation possible and agentic. By offering a sociological framing of participation, this paper attends to a theoretical gap wherein psychological orientations have often dominated this field of inquiry.
The paper draws from a qualitative ethnographic study of an Australian primary classroom located in one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse suburbs in Australia, with low socio-economic status. Data collection included observations and interviews with students and educators in their everyday schooling experiences. Based on self-identification, the 11 student participants represented at least 11 cultural backgrounds and 12 linguistic backgrounds. Conversely, out of the 9 educator participants, only 3 self-identified as coming from diverse backgrounds. Fieldwork consisted of at least 3 weekly visits to the school and classroom during two terms, with each term lasting for approximately 8 weeks.
A key finding from the study highlights the significance of relationships as facilitative of different participatory repertiores as students invest in participating to conserve or strengthen peer connections. Animated by empirical data, this paper illuminates the limits of Bourdieu's notion of social capital to capture how relationships matter for participation. Thus, in proposing the notion of participation as a relational investment, I mobilise Wendy Bottero's concept of sociality, as an additional theoretical lens.
The paper draws from a qualitative ethnographic study of an Australian primary classroom located in one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse suburbs in Australia, with low socio-economic status. Data collection included observations and interviews with students and educators in their everyday schooling experiences. Based on self-identification, the 11 student participants represented at least 11 cultural backgrounds and 12 linguistic backgrounds. Conversely, out of the 9 educator participants, only 3 self-identified as coming from diverse backgrounds. Fieldwork consisted of at least 3 weekly visits to the school and classroom during two terms, with each term lasting for approximately 8 weeks.
A key finding from the study highlights the significance of relationships as facilitative of different participatory repertiores as students invest in participating to conserve or strengthen peer connections. Animated by empirical data, this paper illuminates the limits of Bourdieu's notion of social capital to capture how relationships matter for participation. Thus, in proposing the notion of participation as a relational investment, I mobilise Wendy Bottero's concept of sociality, as an additional theoretical lens.