What is Cultural Capital?
Cultural capital is the accumulation of knowledge, behaviours, and skills that a pupil can draw upon and which demonstrates their cultural awareness, knowledge and competence; it is one of the key ingredients a pupil will draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world of work.
Cultural capital promotes social mobility and success in our stratified society.
Cultural capital gives a pupil power. It helps them achieve goals, become successful, and rise up the social ladder without necessarily having wealth or financial capital.
Cultural capital is having assets that give pupils the desire to aspire and achieve social mobility whatever their starting point.
Ofsted define cultural capital as…
“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: ‘It is the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens,
introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.’ “
At St Mary’s we know the importance of educating children wholly; we strive to provide experiences that enrich them educationally but also personally, physically, spiritually, morally, socially and culturally.
Please click the link to find out more about these key areas. Cultural Capital (download)
