Ethos within the British boarding school: A small-scale analysis of the ‘Head's Welcome’ as an act of legitimation

Abstract

The term ethos is common within schools, describing culture and ‘feel’ of the institution. Ethos is also a contested term, and one that becomes more problematic the more one tries to understand it. Because ethos is founded within philosophical, structural and geographical aspects of the community and associated power balances, it is argued here that it provides an opportunity to study one aspect of the Bordieuan field of power, more specifically doxa. This paper posits that it may be beneficial to consider the term ethos through the lens of doxa, specifically when considering elite schools, and that doing so helps to further link the research into elite English boarding school ethos and discussions surrounding power, inculcation, authority, elitism and class within such schools. An analysis of the Head's Welcome from the websites of English independent boarding schools was undertaken, which identified both institutional and sector-wide doxa, which were used to construct descriptive pictures of legitimation.