Encouraging ‘Belonging’ in Education
Note: This is the second part in our series exploring the “ABC’s of How We Learn” by Daniel Schwartz, Jessica Tsang, and Kristen Blair. Each concept, organized by a letter of the alphabet, explores current and emerging teaching methodologies and concepts that are used in education today.
“Man is by nature a social animal” Aristotle once wrote. And kids are no different. Learning is by its very nature, a social environment. What is it, then, that fosters a social environment conducive to studying?
The answer is simple: Belonging. Creating a sense of belonging is key to not only building inclusive environments but encourages students to feel that they belong there. For students to feel like they belong in the classroom is hugely important to making the student feel accepted, valued, and included. This can have particularly important implications for how failure is understood. Belonging helps students reframe short-term failure as something that is not reason for exclusion, but rather something that is normal within a social group. By encouraging that failure is normal, belonging boosts individual investment in learning.
There is also another reason that belonging is important. While the concept of belonging seems simple and straightforward, it is also an important tool in addressing structural exclusionary practices on the basis of class, race, and gender. As discussed in last week’s article on Analogy, the SAT removed analogy questions from the exam because they were ultimately found to place non-White, non-Middle and -Upper-Class, Americans at a severe disadvantage and privilege knowledge that the socioeconomic elite in America traditionally had access to. Inclusive educational environments have been found to largely boost educational success among minority students, particularly African Americans.
Yet, like any methodology, it is important to be aware of potential pitfalls. Belonging, in order to succeed, must use good role models. The environment must also be authentic as inauthenticity will, conversely, continue to encourage the same, non-inclusive environment that has plagued education for so long. Furthermore, those implementing belonging must also be cognizant and aware that engineering the environment towards a particular social group ends up reinforcing negative stereotypes. And, of course, students may also not want to have identities imposed upon them.
All that being said, Belonging is a key and important concept in learning. As Schwartz, Tsang, and Blair write (2016), “Feeling that one belongs will increase effort and decrease distracting thoughts of inadequacy or alienation”. It may seem like a simple truism that students should feel that they belong. But as countless articles, books, and research papers have shown, we have a long way to go towards ensuring that education is equal and inclusive and that all students have the opportunity to belong and be a partner in their growth.
