Purposes and Positions in the Field of Education Management

Abstract

Using Bourdieu’s theory of practice this article explores the contemporary histories of the field of education management in England and Wales. The thinking tools of habitus andfield are used to explore oral texts produced from interviews with current and past field members. These oral texts contain the professional biographies of field members in which the struggle for an academic–practitioner habitus, in context and over time, is revealed from withinthe stories of professional practice. While our engagement with sociological theories has been the target of political attack on educational research, it is argued that such inquiries enableus to gain new insights into the complexities and creativity of knowledge production within thechoices we make as a part of our lives and work. Thinking with habitus and field opens up possibilities for field development through conceptualizing position, and enables us to see the traps located in accepting positioning.