Developing a

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Developing a Sense of Belonging
DEE Conference, Cardiff 9-10 September 2009

• Guglielmo Volpe
• Economics Department
• Queen Mary, University of London

Warning! There is no economics in this talk!
Feel free to leave the room and take a break if
you wish!
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Why?
My new department
Confrontational relationship with students
Poor NSS results
No engagement with students
Research focus and little attention to TL
Lack of collegial engagement within the Department
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Classroom engagement
School success and failure
Academic effort
Situational and contextual factors
Quality of school social relationship
Sense of belonging or psychological membership in
the school or classroom
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Sense of belonging or psychological membership in
the school or classroom
Extent to which students feel personally
accepted, respected, included and supported by
others in the school social environment
(Goodenow, 1993)
Experience of personal involvement in a system or
environment so that persons feel themselves to be
an integral part of that system or
environment (Hagerty and Patusky, 1995)
need to belong is a fundamental human motivation
and can be defined as a pervasive drive to form
and maintain at least a minimum quantity of
lasting, positive and significant interpersonal
relationship (Osterman, 2000)
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Sense of belonging or psychological membership in
the school or classroom
In school
Importance in life absence leads to lowered
interest and engagement in ordinary life (Weiss,
1973)
Difficulty in sustaining academic engagement and
commitment in environments where students do not
feel valued and welcome (Batcher, 1981, Zeichner,
1980, Tinto, 1987)
Belonging is a critical factor in school
retention and dropout of at risk students (Finn,
1989, Wehlage, 1989)
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Research shows that among middle and high school
students, sense of belonging leads to
Better academic motivation
Lower rates of school drop-out
Higher grade point average
Better socio-emotional functioning
(Anderman and Anderman 1999, Goodenow 1993,
Anderman 2002, Wehlag et al. 1989, Shochet et
al., 2006)
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Research shows that among undergraduate students,
sense of belonging leads to
Linked to lecturers caring
Greater involvement in campus organisation
Lower level of depression/loneliness among
African American and Caucasian students
Less racial climate among Latino students
Students at a disadvantage may benefit more from
a sense of belonging than other groups
(Anderman and Freeman 2004,Hurtado Carter 1997,
Mounts 2004)
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Measure of sense of belonging
Two defining attributes
Fit Perception that the individuals
characteristics articulate with the system or
environment
Valued Involvement The experience of feeling
valued, needed and accepted
Antecedents or precursors to sense of
belonging Energy for involvement, potential and
desire for meaningful involvement and potential
for shared or complementary characteristics
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• Sense of belonging instrument (Hagerty and
  Potusky, 1995)
• 27 items questionnaire covering issues of fit,
  value and antecedents
• 4 points likert scale

• Psychological Sense of School Membership
  (Goodenow, 1993)
• 18 items questionnaire
• 5 points likert scale

• Sense of belonging instrument (Hofman et al.,
  2007)
• 26 items questionnaire distributed over five
  factors
• Perceived peer support
• Perceived staff support/comfort
• Perceived classroom support
• Perceived isolation
• Empathetic faculty understanding

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• Pilot project Sense of belonging of economics
  students at Queen Mary
• Small scale summer project with aim to scale up
  project in coming academic year
• Call for participants and eventually 7 students
  agreed to be involved (one third year student,
  three second year and three first year students)
• PSSM questionnaire
• Semi-structured interviews
• Aims
• Measure sense of belonging
• Explore factors affecting sense of belonging for
  students

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Some preliminary results on Sense of Belonging
scores
Year 1 students average score Year 1 students average score
Student 1 3.72
Student 2 3.56
Student 3 3.78
3.69
Year 2 and 3 students average scores Year 2 and 3 students average scores Year 2 and 3 students average scores
Avg. Score 2007/8 Avg. Score 2008/9
Student 1 3.39 3.06
Student 2 3.17 4.5
Student 3 2.33 2.17
Student 4 3.61 4.61
3.13 3.59
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• From interviews
• Students-staff relationship
• Reduce distance between staff and students
• Students-peer relationship
• Importance of induction
• Groups of friends difficulty to engage with
  other groups
• International students ethnic minorities
• Extra-curricular activities

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Developing a sense of belonging what are we
doing?
Many things.
look at students and staff relationship
Support students engagement with their peers
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look at students and staff relationship
Strengthen advising/support systems
Appoint senior tutor
Appoint students support manager
Introduce standard of service framework
Define timeline for feedback and enhance
awareness about feedback practices
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look at students and staff relationship
Research assistant scheme
Financial help for attendance to summer courses
Guest speaker lecture (this year Robert Peston)
Induction has been strengthened for all students
(year 1, 2 and 3)
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Students engagement with their peers
Engage with and support Economics Society
Debate teams
Imagery competition
Peer support scheme
Student helpers
Student ambassadors
Careers and employability workshops
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But, the most important new initiative..
The staff vs students football competition!!!
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References

• Anderman, L.H., Anderman, E.M. (1999). Social
  predictors of changes in students achievement
  goal orientations. Contemporary Educational
  Psychology, 24, 21-37
• Anderman, L.H., Freeman, T.M. (2004). Students
  sense of belonging in school. In P.R. Pintrich
  and M.I. Maehr (Eds.), Motivating students,
  improving schools Advances in motivation and
  achievement, Vol. 13, p.27-63, Amsterdam Elsvier
• Goodenow, C. (1993). The psychological sense of
  school membership among adolescents Scale
  development and educational correlates.
  Psychology in the Schools, 30, 79-90
• Hagborg. W.J. (1994). An exploration of school
  membership among middle- and high-school
  students. Journal of Psychoeducational
  Assessment, 12, 312-323
• Hoffman, M., Richmond, J., Morrow, J., Salomone,
  K. (2003). Investigating Sense of Belonging in
  first-year college students. Journal of College
  Student Retention, 4, 227-256
• Hurtado, S., Carter., D.F. (1997). Effects of
  college transition and perceptions of the campus
  racial cliamte on Latino college students sense
  of belonging. Sociology of Education, 70, 324-345
• Osterman, K.F. (2000). Students need for
  belonging in the school community. Review of
  Educational Research, 70, 323-367
• Pittman, L.D., Richmond, A. (2007). Academic and
  Psychological Functioning in Late Adolescence
  The importance of school belonging. The Journal
  of Experimental Education, 75, 270-290

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Psychological Sense of School Membership
(Goodenow, 1993)

• I feel like a real part of the Economics
  Department
• People here notice when I am good at something
• It is hard for people like me to be accepted here
• Other students in the Department take my opinions
  seriously
• Most lecturers within the Department are
  interested in me
• Sometimes I feel as if I do not belong here
• There is at least one lecturer (or other person)
  in the Department
• I can talk to if I have a problem
• People in the Department are friendly to me
• Lecturers here are not interested in people like
  me
• I am included in/participate to lots of
  activities in the Department
• I am treated with as much respect as other
  students
• I feel very different from most other students
  here
• I can really be myself in this Department
• The lecturers here respect me
• People here know I can do good work
• I wish I were in a different Department/University
  
• I feel proud of belonging to the Economics
  Department
• Other students here like me the way I am