Social class and the mobilisation of capital in physical education-related undergraduate programmes

Expanding Higher Education has increased the focus of undergraduate degrees towards preparing graduates for employment. Much research acknowledges classed inequalities in employability-related learning, yet studies tend to explore these in graduate employability rather than via students’ experiences of mobilising professional knowledge within their degree. Here, we use a Bourdieusian framework to explore how class impacts students’ cultivation and mobilising of professional knowledge. Drawing on interviews from a two-year study with seventeen English undergraduate Physical Education students, the relationship between class and professional knowledge is explored in four ways: (1) connecting experience to academic content, (2) developing relationships with staff, (3) accessing complimentary employment and voluntary opportunities, and (4) utilising university societies to ‘play the game’. We suggest these impact a student’s capacity to navigate employability-related opportunities at university and influence value judgements made by staff. Consequently, we call for a greater embedding of professional knowledge for all students.