‘A new cultural capital’? Social & political potentials for arts and cultural education in England

Arts and cultural education is often seen as a practice that can resolve inequalities. This research argues that whilst well-meaning, cultural education can often establish and exacerbate these inequities, create spaces of embarrassment and shame and become another source of capital to be competed for in the educational field. Using Stan’s Cafe, an international theatre company as a case study, this thesis explores social and political change through arts education practices following over eighteen months of ethnography in primary and secondary schools in Birmingham, England and establishes critical avenues for change within contemporary education