"It's Obvious Who Plays an Instrument and Who Doesn't": Using Doxa and Illusio to Explore Inequities in English School Music Education
Abstract
This thesis investigates Bourdieu’s concepts of doxa and illusio in English secondary school music education, using data collection from a comparative case study undertaken at two contrasting schools in a rural county, Stonefarm High School and Friars Hall School. Data were gathered over five months in 2018, using lesson observations, student focus groups and teacher interviews. Three classes were invited to participate at each school.
The data were analysed using Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice (1977), especially the field mechanisms of doxa and illusio. Doxa, the unwritten rules of a field, and illusio, belief in the game being played in the field, are rarely acknowledged and articulated, which perpetuates the reproduction of social inequalities. Additionally, Rist’s (1977) summary of labelling theory in education demonstrates how labels contribute to preserving social structures that favour the dominant classes.
The music teacher at Stonefarm High School was focused on creating a doxa and illusio relevant to the students, most of whom occupied a rural, working-class habitus. Whilst this school music experience was well-received by the students, the music teacher was concerned that their school music education would place them at a disadvantage when approaching the middle-class focused requirements of the national music education field. The student participants also perceived a physical and cultural distance from music education policymakers
The Friars Hall School music department was aligned with the national music education field. Students who excelled in school music viewed the music department as a supportive “family” that helped them access more prestigious musicking opportunities. However, some other students perceived an “inner circle” from which they were excluded. Both groups believed that the school recognized musical worth based on the formal labels of graded music examinations and other Western classical music practices.
Findings from both cases draw attention to the doxa and illusio of the national music education field. The case study schools highlight how exclusion occurs on micro and macro levels. This demonstrates how representative student and teacher voices are necessary to identify and challenge these exclusions, raising concerns about whose voices remain unheard in the current national political climate.