What promotes adolescents’ sense of school belonging? Students and teachers’ convergent and divergent views

Abstract

In this study, which endeavored to identify school climate factors and their influence on adolescent students’ feelings of school belonging, it became evident that a new conceptualization thereof is needed. Quantitative data from 443 male and female 11th graders and 264 of their teachers and qualitative data from 16 students and eight of their teachers in Al Ain public school district were collected. The findings revealed that adolescents perceived parental involvement, classroom practices, teacher-student relationships, safety and school social practices, and peer relationships in novel and different ways to their teachers. Various factors including parental involvement, teacher-student relationships, and classroom practices were viewed as unimportant in promoting student belonging. The adolescents appeared to be more concerned with safety and school social life and peer relationships. The findings are significant for policymakers and practitioners in their quest to improve the educational experiences of adolescent students and facilitate their psychosocial development.