Engineering Education and Bourdieu: using Field, Capital and Habitus to Enhance Responsiveness

Abstract

This paper takes a close look at the relevance of Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, field and capital in enhancing learning in engineering education andproposes that effective engineering education can be achieved through the adoption of appropriate measures related to Bourdieu’s theories.it further shows the link between the concepts of field, capital and habitus and explores how engineering institutions can restructureteaching methods and curriculum content in a way that students can relate and respond to. This paper also highlights environmental and foundational changes that need to be imbibed from the elementary stages of education to help mould a potential teacher to be effective in the field and build capital that further impacts his effectiveness as a teacher. Again, through the review of related literature, this study explores how academia’s habitus affects their teaching methods within the field and the effect of institutional systems and environment on the pedagogy of engineering educators. The study further outlines some of the challenges limiting the field of engineering education stemming from deficiencies from an individuals past and current environment, followed by a description of key initiatives and recommendations aimed at better pedagogy and learning techniques for productive ngineering education.