Bourdieu and Culturally Responsive Leadership: Principal Perspectives on Guiding 21st Century French-Immersion Schools

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Twelve
  In Roundtable Session: Social Class, Culture, and Capital in K–12 Education (Table 8)

Abstract

French Immersion bilingual programs have become very popular in Manitoba and in Canada, but they have suffered from a lag of sorts in that they have failed to reflect the increasing cultural diversity of communities. While Bourdieu’s master concepts of field, habitus, and capital are well known to the sociology of education, his conceptualization of hysteresis is particularly well-suited to thinking about change leadership in this context: as objective conditions within a field change, there is often a maladaptive lag in the habitus. This case-study of six mid-career principals therefore utilizes Bourdieusian theory to explore how school leaders can effectively foster a school culture that adapts to and embraces the forms of diversity being newly encountered by French Immersion schools.

Author

• Tori-Lyn Patzer, Pembina Trails School Division
  Presenting Author