Cultural Capital
What is Cultural Capital?
Cultural capital refers to the social and cultural knowledge that can help students make progress. Cultural capital is defined as the accumulation of knowledge, behaviours, and skills that a student can draw upon and which demonstrates their cultural awareness, knowledge and competence; it is one of the key ingredients a student will draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world of work.
Cultural capital is that knowledge and those skills we need to enable us to be able to understand the world just that little bit better. Cultural capital gives a student power. It helps them achieve goals, become successful, and rise up the social ladder without necessarily having wealth or financial capital.
What do OFSTED Mean by Cultural Capital?
The Ofsted Framework (2019):
“As part of making the judgement about the quality of education, inspectors will consider the extent to which schools are equipping pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. Our understanding of ‘knowledge and cultural capital’ is derived from the following wording in the national curriculum”.
Cultural Capital itself is defined in the Framework as:
“the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens’.
In a speech in 2019 Amanda Spielman stated:
“By [cultural capital], we simply mean the essential knowledge, those standard reference points, that we want all children to have…So for example, it’s about being able to learn about and name things that are, for many, outside their daily experience”.
Cultural Capital is not a separate item inspectors will look at. The expectation is that is naturally occurs in a schools broad and balanced curriculum.
Grange Park School and Cultural Capital
Grange Parks Vision - Learning for Life
- Grange Park aspires to be a school where learning needs are identified and met leading to outstanding academic achievement
- A school where individual needs are identified and met leading to exceptional personal achievements socially and emotionally
- A school where personal aspirations are nurtured leading to the transition to a successful adulthood in the wider community
Cultural capital is a thread that runs through the schools ethos and vision. At Grange Park pupils/students benefit from a broad, balanced and enriched curriculum.
‘Personalised pathways for all’ approach must be used in order to support all our pupils/students in developing - academically, socially, emotionally, and culturally. By doing this our pupils/students will be successful.
Grange Park recognises that there are six key areas of development that are interrelated and contribute to the development of a pupil/students cultural capital.
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No. |
Key area |
Further information |
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1 |
Personal |
Developing responsible, respectful and active citizens |
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2 |
Social |
Political and current affairs awareness, relate to peers and people of all ages |
|
3 |
Physical |
Healthy living, gross and fine motor skills, importance of being active |
|
4 |
Spiritual |
Reflect own beliefs and have knowledge and respect for others beliefs and values |
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5 |
Moral |
Attitudes, values and behaviours, know right from wrong |
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6 |
Cultural |
Value and appreciate cultural diversity, political and British values |
Examples of Activities at Grange Park
The table identifies some of the activities that are undertaken by Grange Park as part of our broad and balanced curriculum. Not all activities are listed in the example, and some would appear in more than one area.
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Personal Development |
Social Development |
Physical Development |
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Spiritual Development |
Moral Development |
Cultural development |
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