Boosting School Belonging

With rising rates of youth mental illness, disconnection and social isolation, strategies are needed that can help stem the tide. A sense of belonging to one’s school is associated with good school performance, physical and psychological wellbeing, and offers a quintessential solution to help address many of the issues faced by young people today. Grounded in theory, research, and practical experience, Boosting School Belonging provides 48 activities for practitioners and teachers to use with classes, groups, or individuals to help secondary students develop a sense of school belonging. Through six modules, readers will understand the evidence underlying each module, identify fun and practical tools to use with young people, and develop strategies for helping young people connect with teachers, parents, peers, themselves, learning, and help. The evidence-based strategies and concepts make it an invaluable resource for teachers, psychologists and counsellors looking to help foster a sense of school belonging amongst students.

With rising rates of youth mental illness, disconnection and social isolation, strategies are needed that can help stem the tide. A sense of belonging to one’s school is associated with good school performance, physical and psychological wellbeing, and offers a quintessential solution to help address many of the issues faced by young people today. Grounded in theory, research, and practical experience, Boosting School Belonging provides 48 activities for practitioners and teachers to use with classes, groups, or individuals to help secondary students develop a sense of school belonging. Through six modules, readers will understand the evidence underlying each module, identify fun and practical tools to use with young people, and develop strategies for helping young people connect with teachers, parents, peers, themselves, learning, and help. The evidence-based strategies and concepts make it an invaluable resource for teachers, psychologists and counsellors looking to help foster a sense of school belonging amongst students.

This book explores the concept of school belonging in adolescents from a socio-ecological perspective, acknowledging that young people are uniquely connected to a broad network of groups and systems within a school system. Using a socio-ecological framework, it positions belonging as an essential aspect of psychological functioning for which schools offer unique opportunities to improve. It also offers insights into the factors that influence school belonging at the student level during adolescence in educational settings. Taking a socio-ecological perspective and drawing from innovative research methods, the book encourages researchers interested in school leadership to foster students’ sense of belonging by developing their qualities and by changing school systems and processes

"The foundational concepts of belonging and becoming weave throughout this book as authors Laurie Barron and Patti Kinney help us understand why these concepts are so critical and how to help our students on the path to belonging and becoming. With current thinking and up-to-date research, Laurie and Patti discuss and share dozens of school and classroom examples on topics such as executive function, self-efficacy, student voice/choice, differentiation, special education, staff development, student leadership, engaging parents, reflective practices, and celebrating success. Part 1 lays the foundation by (1) sharing the importance of a common understanding of becoming and belonging, (2) the establishment of solid school policies and practices based on the characteristics of young adolescents, and (3) the creation of organizational structures that promote respectful relationships. Part 2 includes practical strategies and examples to help students experience their schools as places where they can belong and become."--Provided by publisher.

In Compassionate Leadership for School Belonging, Kathryn Riley draws on 40 years of international research and professional practice to show how schools can be places of safety and fulfilment, even in the most difficult of circumstances. When belonging is a school’s guiding principle, more young people at all levels experience a sense of connectedness and friendship, perform better academically, and come to believe in themselves; their teachers feel more professionally fulfilled, their families more accepted. The originality of this highly readable book lies in its scope. It offers international analysis from the OECD alongside insights from the author’s extensive research in schools, powerfully supported by observational vignettes and drawings from the children, young people and teachers who have been her co-researchers. The book reveals patterns of dislocation, disaffection and exclusion, and highlights the points of intervention in policy and practice needed across school systems to create the conditions for school belonging. The methodologies, concepts and research tools offered can be used by practitioners and researchers in their own contexts, and to guide school leaders towards creating their own places of belonging. This is an urgent book of hope, offering knowledge so that schools can open up possibilities to all children and young people in an increasingly uncertain world.

With accessible strategies grounded in trauma-informed education and positive psychology, this book equips teachers to support all students, particularly the most vulnerable. It will help them to build their resilience, increase their motivation and engagement, and fulfil their full learning potential within the classroom. Trauma-informed, strengths-based classrooms are built upon three core aims: to support children to build their self-regulatory capacities, to build a sense of relatedness and belonging at school, and to integrate wellbeing principles that nurture growth and identify strengths. Taking conventional approaches to trauma one step further, teachers may create a classroom environment which helps students to meet their own needs in a healthy way and progress academically. Based on the successful Berry Street education strategies pioneered by the authors, this book also includes comprehensive case studies, learning points and opportunities for self-reflection, fully supporting teachers to implement these strategies within the classroom.

"The approaches outlined in this volume will help expand the narrow focus on academic success to include psychological well-being for students and educators alike. It is a must-read for anyone interested in how positive outcomes such as life satisfaction, positive emotion, and meaning and purpose can be optimized in the educational settings." -- Judith Moskowitz, PhD MPH, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, USA, IPPA President 2019-2021 This open access handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the growing field of positive education, featuring a broad range of theoretical, applied, and practice-focused chapters from leading international experts. It demonstrates how positive education offers an approach to understanding learning that blends academic study with life skills such as self-awareness, emotion regulation, healthy mindsets, mindfulness, and positive habits, grounded in the science of wellbeing, to promote character development, optimal functioning, engagement in learning, and resilience. The handbook offers an in-depth understanding and critical consideration of the relevance of positive psychology to education, which encompasses its theoretical foundations, the empirical findings, and the existing educational applications and interventions. The contributors situate wellbeing science within the broader framework of education, considering its implications for teacher training, education and developmental psychology, school administration, policy making, pedagogy, and curriculum studies. This landmark collection will appeal to researchers and practitioners working in positive psychology, educational and school psychology, developmental psychology, education, counselling, social work, and public policy. Margaret (Peggy) L. Kern is Associate Professor at the Centre for Positive Psychology at the University of Melbourne's Graduate School of Education, Australia. Dr Kern is Founding Chair of the Education Division of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). You can find out more about Dr Kern's work at www.peggykern.org. Michael L. Wehmeyer is Ross and Mariana Beach Distinguished Professor of Special Education; Chair of the Department of Special Education; and Director and Senior Scientist, Beach Center on Disability, at the University of Kansas, United States. Dr Wehmeyer is Publications Lead for the Education Division of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA). He has published more than 450 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and is an author or editor of 42 texts. .

This is a comprehensive compendium of school belonging research from expert contributors. We bring you the latest empirical research and discourse on school belonging drawn from the scientific peer-reviewed literature. This book has a strong applied and functional purpose in schools.