'I Heard It on the Grapevine': 'hot' knowledge and school choice

• Published in: British journal of sociology of education Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 377 - 400
• Main Authors: Ball, Stephen J., Vincent, Carol
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis Group 01.09.1998; Carfax Publishing Co; Taylor and Francis; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Children; Choice; Class Differences; Consumer behavior; Decision Making; Educational Environment; Educational Quality; Employment Patterns; Factors; Family School Relationship; Formal dances; Great Britain; Higher education; Housing; Human Geography; Information Dissemination; Information sharing; Information Sources; Interpersonal Relationship; Knowledge; Language teachers; Mothers; Mythology; Parent Attitudes; Parents; Parents & parenting; Peer Influence; Physical Environment; School Choice; Schools; Secondary Education; Secondary schools; Social Class; Social Differences; Social Influences; Social Networks; Sociology; Sociology of education. Educational systems. Lifelong education; Values; United Kingdom; Decision Making; Attitude towards; Choice; Information source; Educational System; Information; Pupil's Parent; School Attendance; Communication
• ISSN: 0142-5692; 1465-3346
• DOI: 10.1080/0142569980190307

This paper is one of a number of related pieces which address the issue of parental choice through a careful Straussian analysis of interview data. The focus here is upon the structures and processes underlying the use of grapevine' knowledge, which parents elicit and disseminate in choosing a school. It is argued that this immediate or 'hot' knowledge is of particular importance to many parents and is set over and against the 'cold' formal knowledge produced by schools themsebes or published as examination results or league tables. Grapevine knowledge is socially embedded in networks and localities and is distributed unevenly across and used differently by different social-class groups. The paper concludes by suggesting that the stress and anxiety involved in choice for many parents is a product of unstable cultural values, and the slippery signs systems now surrounding 'school' at a time of increased economic uncertainty.