Views & Opinion


A guide to helping all students feel they belong at school


Comment by DR IAN HADDEN, Delivery Lead, School Inclusion Group, University of Sussex


The idea that students’ sense of belonging is crucial to a happy and successful school career has gained real traction in the last few years, but it can leave school leaders in something of a bind. They might recognise a lack of belonging as a big issue in their school, especially for some groups of their students, but what can they do about it? Many schools have told us that they’ve tried a plethora of approaches over the years but are frustrated by a stubborn lack of progress. It’s a sticky problem.


But it’s a problem that’s important to fix, as Bridget Phillipson recently emphasised: “If we want to tackle the epidemic of school absence, children need to feel that they belong in school.” And of course, it isn’t just attendance that’s affected: behaviour, motivation, wellbeing and attainment all take a big hit when students don’t feel like they belong at school. All of this can have knock-on effects on teachers’ motivation and performance, with consequences for recruitment and retention. So, what can be done?


Unpicking the structure of belonging


A first step to a fresh approach is to do some unpicking. Decades of research in educational psychology have identified a range of psychological barriers associated with a lack of belonging. Consider the impact on a student’s day-to-day experience of school if they feel that …


… none of my teachers really cares about me as a person. … the school doesn’t treat people from families like mine the same as everyone else.


… nobody expects people from families like mine to do well at school. … doing well at school won’t matter for my chances of doing well in life.


… my parents don’t feel comfortable meeting my teachers.


Importantly, some groups of students, such as pupil premium students (those from low-income households), are often disproportionately affected. By measuring individual barriers like those above and mapping them to administrative data such as pupil premium status and attendance, schools can gain detailed insights into how a sense of belonging (or lack of it) is playing out in their school.


For example, the data might show that pupil premium students feel that the school doesn’t treat people from families like theirs the same as everyone else, and that this is associated with lower attendance. One possible reason, among many, might be that teachers, under pressure to deliver a packed curriculum, understandably tend to choose the—often more articulate—middle class children to answer questions in class, inadvertently creating a sense of exclusion for the others over time. Probing the data in ways like this can help school leaders identify the pinch points and generate ideas about how to address them, ranging from quick wins to multi-year initiatives.


Turning data into action - and results


A vast array of research supports these ideas, including a recent study of our own1 at the University of Sussex. I and colleagues Peter Harris and Matt Easterbrook worked with two secondary schools to identify and address two barriers faced by their pupil premium students and Black students. These groups reported feeling that there were negative stereotypes about some groups of students and that their teachers came from different backgrounds; analysis showed that these perceptions were


28 www.education-today.co.uk January 2025


associated with the lower attendance and poorer behavioural records of the two groups. To address them, we designed a brief intervention consisting of a short writing exercise known as values affirmation (aimed at reducing the impact of negative stereotypes), and an exercise that revealed hidden similarities between teachers and students (aimed at improving teacher-student relationships).


The intervention was virtually zero-cost but, since it was precisely targeted, it reduced the gap in attendance between pupil premium students and their peers by a remarkable 60% and halved the amount of time that Black students spent in detention. Other targeted benefits went in the right direction but didn’t reach statistical significance.


Three stages to helping all students feel they belong in school In partnership with a small number of local authorities, including Camden Council together with Camden Learning, we’re working with school leaders in primary and secondary schools to further develop this approach. We work with each school in three stages.


Stage 1: Discover the barriers. Generate robust granular data about the psychological barriers being faced by different groups of the school’s students, and analyse how these barriers are associated with attendance, behaviour and attainment.


Stage 2: Deepen understanding and generate ideas. In an interactive workshop, school leaders gain a working understanding of the psychological principles behind the barriers faced by their students, explore their root causes, and generate ideas for actions.


Stage 3. Deliver and evaluate. Use the ideas from the workshop to develop a robust action plan and ensure that it is effectively delivered and evaluated over an extended period.


Towards a more inclusive future


Each school is unique, with different groups of students facing different barriers. As the schools we’re working with draw on the research base to develop creative ways to address these, we’re developing a practical toolkit of options for more schools to use in future. Creating an environment where all students feel like they belong can be a demanding, perhaps even seemingly overwhelming, challenge. But, armed with robust data, an understanding of the relevant psychological principles and tools, and a commitment to change, school leaders can take important steps to bringing it closer to a reality. It’s nothing less than their students deserve.


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