Teachers as Agents of Cultural Capital Formation

Abstract

This case study examines the role teachers can play as protective agents in the formation of cultural capital. The study followed classroom teachers and midlevel central office educators as they introduced static and relational cultural capital to minoritized and low-socioeconomic-background high school students. Findings show that in practice both forms of cultural capital function simultaneously. Also, this student population benefits from systemic, consistent, and intentional cultural capital formation, especially when this is nested in a set of structures of care.