FOSTERING STUDENTS’ SENSE OF BELONGING: A PARENTAL ROLE OR A HEI RESPONSIBILITY NECESSITY? AN INTERDISCIPLINARTY HEI STUDY INTO A MODEL OF STUDENT BELONGING AT UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOLS

This paper addresses evidence that developing a sense of belonging for students from different ethnic groups impacts on their engagement. It notes previous findings that in universities habits of coexistence may present barriers to the development of relationships and the sense of student belonging. The paper proposes that cosmopolitan engagement offers a frame for considering the experience of cultural difference in the classroom. It stresses the importance of relationality and communication. The research, involving students undertaking business and science programmes in two culturally similar universities, has sought to develop a better understanding of how students in London engage with higher education, with their learning and with cultural others, and the impact on their learning of differing communication patterns. The study finds that students often feel distant from their tutors and afraid to ask for further explanation. Instead, they rely on a circle of friends to provide support and clarification. Students have identified the development of agency through engaging with others from different cultures. Engagement in practical collective tasks such as forensic lab work seems to have the potential to encourage communication across cultures, but observation have suggested that students tend to self-segregate. The article concludes that there cannot be a presumption of cosmopolitan engagement. Rather universities need to develop strategies for improving communication between students and staff and between students of different cultural backgrounds.

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A Campus-Wide Collaborative Effort to Increase Student Sense of Belonging

Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice ◽

10.14297/jpaap.v8i1.403 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 94-103

Author(s):

Danette Verna Day ◽

Connie Strittmatter

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Student Involvement ◽

Sense Of Belonging ◽

Planning Process ◽

Program Planning ◽

Collaborative Effort ◽

Institutional Collaboration ◽

University Level ◽

Student Belonging ◽

The University

This paper examines one university’s experience developing a campus-wide collaborative effort to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King. Recognizing the importance of student participation on students’ sense of belonging, the program planning and events emphasized student involvement. To illustrate the importance of student belonging at the university level, we discuss the universal application of Maslow’s (1954) belonging needs. From there, we explore the theoretical literature by Cooper (2009), Tinto (1993), Astin (1993) and Bandura (1977) on student belonging within higher education. We describe the Dr. King program and analyze it at the programmatic level by applying elements of Kezar’s (2005) model of institutional collaboration in higher education. We conclude by discussing the benefits of student involvement in the planning process and as participants in the program sessions to demonstrate how institutional collaboration that encompasses true student involvement can positively impact students’ sense of belonging at the university level.

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Students’ Sense of Belonging: The Development of a Predictive Retention Model

Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning ◽

10.14434/josotl.v19i1.26787 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Glenn M. Davis ◽

Melissa B. Hanzsek-Brill ◽

Mark Carl Petzold ◽

David H. Robinson

Keyword(s):

Student Persistence ◽

Sense Of Belonging ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Educational Institutions ◽

First Year ◽

Retention Model ◽

Academic Factors ◽

Social Belonging ◽

Transition Points ◽

Student Belonging

Educational institutions increasingly recognize the role that student belonging plays in retention. Many studies in this area focus on helping students improve a sense of belonging before they matriculate or identifying belonging as a reason for their departure. This study measures students’ sense of belonging at key transition points during the first year and finds that social belonging and academic performance are both strong predictors of retention that are not necessarily correlated. These results suggest that a comprehensive, focused outreach protocol that encompasses both social and academic factors could have a positive impact on student persistence.

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‘We Belong’: differential sense of belonging and its meaning for different ethnicity groups in higher education

Compass Journal of Learning and Teaching ◽

10.21100/compass.v12i1.942 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Debra Cureton ◽

Phil Gravestock

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Focus Groups ◽

Current Literature ◽

Sense Of Belonging ◽

Quantitative Data ◽

Qualitative Data ◽

Mixed Methodology ◽

Differential Outcomes ◽

Degree Outcomes ◽

Student Belonging

This paper covers two studies that explore student belonging in higher education and how a sense of belonging differs between ethnicity groups. The research took a mixed methodology approach, collecting both quantitative data via a survey and qualitative data via focus groups. Study One explored the differential experiences of belonging via the Belongingness Survey (Yorke, 2016), with a group of 941 students. This was followed by Study Two, which used focus groups to generate a greater understanding of what belonging meant to the students, how belonging developed and to identify barriers to developing a sense of belonging.This work concluded that ethnicity-based differences in students’ sense of belonging are apparent, which mirror the differences that are witnessed at a sector level in degree outcomes. Additionally, belongingness is found to have an unstable nature in that it waxes and wanes, and can be lost or developed at any part of the student lifecycle. Some student-identified initiatives to support the development of belonging are presented. The findings are discussed in the light of the current literature on differential outcomes.

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Formative Learning Experiences of Urban Mathematics Teachers’ and Their Role in Classroom Care Practices and Student Belonging

Urban Education ◽

10.1177/0042085919842625 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 55 (4) ◽

pp. 507-541 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jamaal Sharif Matthews

Keyword(s):

Mathematics Teachers ◽

Sense Of Belonging ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Underserved Students ◽

Teachers Perceptions ◽

Care Patterns ◽

Care Practices ◽

Formative Experiences ◽

Student Belonging ◽

Latinx Adolescents

Mathematics teachers’ preteaching experiences as mathematics learners can affect their identity and practice in supporting their own students’ learning and motivation in mathematics. However, little empirical data exist on teachers’ formative experiences to guide these assumptions, particularly how teachers draw on these experiences when teaching, motivating, and caring for underserved students of color. This exploratory sequential mixed-methods study examines the formative mathematical experiences of 12 teachers currently serving Black and Latinx adolescents in an urban school district with concentrated poverty. Semi-structured interviews allowed teachers to reflect on their formative experiences as mathematics students, structured classroom observations assessed their current classroom care practices as teachers, and finally, questionnaires and a standardized mathematics assessment were used to examine their students’ ( n = 329) mathematical outcomes. This integration of methods provided three levels of inquiry for triangulation and interpretation. Results showed that teachers developed an ethic of perseverance through their formative experiences, which closely tied to their mathematics identity. However, teachers’ perceptions on what enabled them to persevere through challenges as students (i.e., people-support vs. personal-initiative) revealed clear differences in the emotional and instructional support techniques they provided in their classrooms and subsequently their students’ sense of belonging in mathematics. Teachers who discussed the role of people-support in their formative reflections were more likely to possess a critical consciousness on the interpersonal and systemic forces that work against Black and Latinx adolescents and thus enact empathetic care patterns. Furthermore, their observed classroom care patterns mediated the relation between their formative experiences and their students’ sense of belonging in mathematics.

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