Recognising misrecognition: challenging the reproduction of inequality and subverting doxastic thinking in Initial Teacher Education

Abstract

Grammar schools are prized by Northern Ireland society as it is assumed that they promote meritocracy and social mobility. However, research shows that they may lead to the reproduction of inequality. Using a Bourdieusian lens, this article examines reproduction in a teacher education institution in Northern Ireland using two key tools: doxa and misrecognition, based on focus-groups and interviews with student teachers that explored perceptions of how social class and cultures of academic selection may create educational inequalities. Findings reveal that educationally successful participants often failed to recognise how their privileged position has advantaged them. I conclude that students need prompting to understand how education valorises middle-class values and require support to problematise existing unquestioned/unchallenged educational practices.