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Educational psychology - Notes on belonging in school
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L2 Notes: Belonging in Schools1. A psychological perspective of community and belonging
- We all belong to a community or more, and it can be considered a common
denominator for considering inclusion, relationships, learning, wellbeing in school and
beyond.
- Psychology has much to offer in contributing to healthy, effective communities.
Community
- ‘Community’ to a sociologist: A group; sharing a relationship; common
ties/experiences; shared area for some of the time; something that develops over
time
- ‘Community’ to a psychologist: e.g.: Seymour Sarason (1974): an emphasis on
a“Psychological sense of community”; experience rather than structure; one of the
major bases for self-definition; introduced the idea that we have a collective
responsibility
- Psychological characteristics of community: [from McMillan & Chavis, 1986]
*Fulfilment of needs (values and value)
*Membership (boundaries, belonging, emotional safety)
*Influence (and power)
*Shared emotional connection (contact, quality, shared events)
- Individual’s understanding of belonging adds a level of complexity to ed.
Psych.’s job, as they are highly dependent on each person’s personal past
experiences
Community =
“The extent to which individuals feel personally accepted, respected and included and
supported by others in the environment.” (Baumeister & Leary 1995)
“That sense of being somewhere where you can be confident that you will fit in and
feel safe in your identity, a feeling of being at home in a place and of being valued”
(Riley, 2019)
, Belonging
Belonging is one facet of community (McMillan & Chavis, 1986).
- Shaw (2019) explored secondary aged pupils views on what it means to belong in
school; Using thematic analysis, the following themes were generated via research:
Familiarity, identification, support, reciprocity, inclusion, membership, being part of a
crowd. Developmentally, this is a time when there’s a shift: the sense of belonging is
moving from family to their friends
- Baumeister & Leary, 1995: Amongst the most powerful human motives is the desire
to form and maintain social bonds. Having a sense of belonging has been identified for
some time as an important aspect in well-being and development. It has become
accepted that belonging is an universal human need.
- Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner, 1979): in-group(2) and out group(s). Thus,
we can see the self image as a narrative that encourages belonging.
- If belonging is a need, where does it fit? Maslow’s hierarchy would suggest that, as a
society, we need to satisfy belongingness and love (3rd step) needs before esteem
needs. Does our society value and acknowledge the importance of belonging? Not
really
- Kunc, 1992: what do dieting programmes tell you? In practice, there’s an inversion of
Maslow’s hierarchy
- Schools roles and responsibilities: Statutory requirements. [Home office, 2004]: close
achievement gap between students from different backgrounds; promote common
values of citizenship; DfE 2011: required to consider how schools have a duty to
promote community cohesion and ofsted may consider this during inspection; Prevent
duty, Department for education, 2015 counter Terrorism & Security act.
-- A number of studies found a decline in young people’s sense of school belonging as
they progress through secondary school (Whitlock, 2006), but others found no
significant differences or a mixed pattern. Different reasons have been proposed:
teaching practices, quality of teacher-pupil relationships and impact of process of
adolescence. (e.g. Juvonen, 2007)
2. The importance of developing community and a sense of belonging in
school
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