‘We are not concerned about good grades’: elite Nigerian parents’ consumption of high-quality education as a form distinction

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on a qualitative study of the motivating factors behind the consumption of international schooling by elite Nigerian parents, this article explores what a group of elite parents perceived as the indicators of high-quality education. The findings suggest that these parents did not consider ‘good grades’ as an indicator of high-quality education. Instead, the nationality and race of teachers, and whether a school uses British or Nigerian pedagogy, were perceived as the distinguishing features of high-quality education. Framed within the sociology of education and the sociology of consumption, this paper suggests that these parents’ constructions and consumption of international schooling are distinction strategies that enable them to reinforce inter- and intra-class boundaries. The analysis also reveals a paradox, whereby in attempting to affirm their status as the authentic elites, the parents are complicit in perpetuating the hegemonic discourse of ‘British is best’, even in post-colonial Nigeria.