Promoting cultural and social capital in early education to support social mobility for children impacted by poverty

In recent years, post global pandemic, it has been widely reported that the ‘gap’ has widened. Whatever term is attributed to this ‘gap’, the opportunity gap, the attainment gap, the education gap, it has the same detrimental consequence for children and their families. Society is not equal; opportunity is not equal. Depending where you are born and to whom, how much money they have and what their occupation is, is impactful on a child’s choices, education, social status and career prospects. Despite the ‘levelling up agenda’ there remains a ‘post code lottery’ for children and families. According to the census data published by The Office for National Statistics (2021) depending where you are born and live has an impact on life expectancy, children and families living in the poorest areas being negatively impacted the most, experiencing poor diet, healthcare, education, and opportunities.The following discussion will consider how building, promoting, and providing opportunity to develop cultural capital and social capital in early education may support the transition into better paid career opportunities, higher education and training and promote a more equal, fair, and inclusive society.

Keywords

Cultural Capital, Social Capital, Social Mobility, Inclusion, Marginalisation, Disadvantage, Hegemony, Opportunity, Labelling, Stigmatisation, Linguistic Capital, Levelling up