Parental engagement in international schools in Cyprus: a Bourdieusian analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Work-related temporary migration became more common recently among privileged groups of global professionals. This globally mobile middle-class cohort typically place their children in international schools. Such international schools usually teach in English, follow a different curriculum from local schools, and have a wide cultural mix. Our study provides new data on the barely documented parental involvement of this emerging cohort of the globally mobile middle classes. We examine, using Bourdieu’s framework, how these parents seek to maintain their status and advance the cultural capital of their children despite their loss of nationally based class reproduction strategies. Our analysis applied a qualitative approach, using data from 28 interviews with parents from five international schools in Limassol, Cyprus. We show how variations on traditional middle class school involvement at international schools help families accumulate cultural, social, and cosmopolitan capital.