Conference Program

In this presentation we discuss our critical documentary analysis of the training documents, and inspection reports of Ofsted regarding cultural capital in early years education and care provision in England. In 2019 Ofsted, the organisation who inspect and regulate educational provision in England, introduced cultural capital as a new and key aspect of judgements on early years provision. Ofsted (2019) define cultural capital as ‘the essential knowledge needed to be educated citizens’, and provide vague references to examples. Cultural capital in the Bourdieusian (1984) sense could be utilised to identify and destabilize cultural and societal hierarchies through education however, Ofsted have included and defined cultural capital from a deficit perspective. In previous papers we have argued, and demonstrated that the inclusion of cultural capital represents symbolic violence particularly towards the early years workforce as the way Ofsted defines it diminishes non-elite forms of knowledge and culture (Wilson-Thomas & Brooks, 2024). Using a Freedom of Information Request we have accessed the training materials used by Ofsted to train inspectors on cultural capital, and we have examined the publicly available Ofsted inspection reports and any references to cultural capital. One of the main problems of the way this sociological concept has been used is that it is poorly and vaguely defined so as to become almost meaningless. However, the implication that there is an essential knowledge that determines future success/education status/ valued citizen status remains a symbolically violent undercurrent to its usage. We therefore argue that the current deployment of cultural capital within Ofsted’s framework requires urgent reconsideration, as its deficit‑oriented framing risks undermining inclusive pedagogical practice and obscuring the diverse cultural assets children and practitioners already bring to early years settings. The imprecise yet elitist deployment of cultural capital represents a narrowing of educational provision, and follows a contemporary trend within educational institutions and regulation to simplify forms of knowledge thus offering impoverished and standardized content. Our findings show that cultural capital is inconsistently applied and conceptually hollow, yet its evaluative force narrows curricula toward standardised, impoverished content. Ofsted risks deepening educational poverty by denying children access to diverse cultural resources and the conceptual tools needed for critical engagement with the world, which is essential for active citizenship. There are wider implications for this trend, and our research can be used to critically explore other countries where implicit and explicit references to cultural capital are embedded in educational policy and practice.