School Contexts and Student Belonging: A Mixed Methods Study of an Innovative High School
Year: 2009
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: High schools have been described as potent breeding grounds of alienation and boredom (Bronfenbrenner, 1974; Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Marks, 2000) while recent literature has focused on student-teacher relationships and the im-portance of pedagogies of care (Noddings, 1992; Wentzel & Looney, 2006). This paper examines the link between social context variables and the education-al process by providing an analysis of the relationship between belongingness, teacher support, and school context. Using a mixed methods approach, the re-sults illustrate the possibility and significance of supplying adolescent students with a sense of belongingness. Using interviews and surveys of student belong-ingness and teachers ’ support, this paper finds that schools which place greater emphasis on the developmental needs of adolescent students are more likely to foster a sense of belongingness and may, in turn, have important effects on a variety of student and teacher outcomes.
Author: Lisa S. Johnson
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2124618507