A change of habitus: Working-class students and educational success

Abstract

For students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, the cultures of secondary schools can be alienating and the schooling experience can be traumatic in various ways. For such students to complete senior secondary school and enter university can be considered quite a remarkable success. As the coordinator of a university access program targeting low socio-economic students, I wanted to find out from those who had made a successful transition to university how they dealt with their high school environments. This paper summarises some of the research done with a group of students participating in the access program and takes some of their comments to exemplify their common experiences. Through their anecdotes and insights, a pattern or trajectory emerged which has relevance for discussions of the deterministic nature of habitus. This paper is intended to illustrate the possibility that individual habitus can change through conscious effort but that change may come at a high price.