Adults' constructions of an early childhood music class: lived experience and cultural reproduction

The provision of extra-curricular or enrichment activities for young children has boomed in recent years. This thesis offers an ethnographic study of a specific class in an early childhood music (ECM) program held at a regional Conservatorium of Music, exploring how adult participants (teachers, administrators, and carers) construct the class. Using interviews, participant observation, field notes, questionnaires and video recordings as my primary methodological tools, I present a picture of the construction of the ECM class through adults' diverse expectations, perceptions, life histories, beliefs and behaviours. I look to the substantial body of cultural reproduction literature which has grown from the example of Bourdieu; in particular I make use of the literature on class-specific parenting strategies which are argued to facilitate the "transmission of differential advantages" (Lareau, 2011, p. 5). I seek to contextualize participation in early years' enrichment activities in processes of cultural reproduction without denying the meaningful and affective relationship participants have with the class.