ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the final outcome of the national test, as a valued form of capital, influencing schooling practices. The chapter draws upon Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice, particularly his concept of society as comprising distinctive social fields, and collective habitus of those who comprise these fields, as a result of the particular resources or capitals, which they possess. Bourdieu's theory reveals the nature of the capitals at stake in this work, and the contestation that attends this capital accrual process. In the research presented, discourses around national testing constituted a teaching habitus disposed to responding to such testing, this is reflective in the sometimes expansive accounts teachers and principals gave of the nature of their work around NAPLAN, including varying degrees of support for and opposition to, the testing regime. Seeking ways to support more educative practices, is crucial for challenging the valorization of such test results as the forms of capital of most worth.
