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Speaking in parables: the responses of students to a Bible‐based ethos in a Christian City Technology College

This article, the first in a series of papers, presents empirical findings from the author’s doctoral study of the impact of Christian ethos on students attending a CTC and academies sponsored by a Christian foundation. This was the first empirical research of a faith-based CTC and academies to be carried out in the UK. It was funded by an ESRC studentship and comprised an ethnographic study. This article presents findings in relation to research question - How year ten pupils at the CTC engaged with the ethos of their college when they encountered it in tutor prayers.Using tools from Bourdieu’s theoretical framework this article proposes that biblical literacy was a form of cultural capital within the CTC and that students primarily encountered tutor prayers as a form of symbolic power.The research carried out for this paper led directly to a project with Oasis Community Learning (OCL). OCL are a Christian organisation who currently run 26 Academies, this makes them the second largest Christian provider of Academies after the Church of England. OCL commissioned the author Dr E Green and Professor Trevor Cooling (Canterbury Christ Church University) to write a tool kit of training materials around ethos to support the development of aspiring and middle leaders. The project was called Leading in a Culture of Change and was funded by the Jerusalem Trust.