School transfer and social relocation

Abstract

This article explores the mechanisms through which teachers in secondary schools form first impressions of, and judgements about, children. It considers how systemic, historic, academic, behavioural, and stylistic teacher judgements combine to form biased impressions that tend to disadvantage children from lower social classes. It focuses on one case study, which formed part of a larger Bourdieuan analysis of the primary-secondary interface. It concludes that school transfer, in this instance in mathematics classrooms, marks a critical time in the middle-class reproduction cycle of educational processes. Moreover, this transition cannot ever be considered a 'fresh start', as children are quickly relocated in their distinct social positions: positions of privilege and disadvantage.