The Importance of Belonging: Learning From the Student Experience of Democratic Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 18.
  In Roundtable Session: A Nested View of Democratic Leadership and Community: Agents of Change for the Public Good

Abstract

This article is the result of an extensive piece of grounded theory research which has been conducted within a democratic day school in the UK. The researcher sought to learn from the experiences of students through conducting one-to-one semi-structured interviews with students aged 14-16. School Meetings, lessons and staff meetings were also observed. The aim was to learn about democratic schooling through listening to the perspectives of the participants within it.
Leadership within the school was particularly interesting to explore. The school had no Head Teacher. Staff and students were equal. School decisions were made through processes including a School Meeting. There was a School Council which dealt with day-to-day issues such as grievances between students. This Council consisted entirely of students and was chaired by one 14-year old. Even decisions about the admission of new students were made by majority vote. The governance of the school could be viewed as being genuinely shared between staff and students.
A range of themes emerged through analysis of the data, including the importance for students of having high quality relationships with teachers and with each other. This related to experiences within formal classroom settings and in other environments. When students felt understood, supported and accepted as individuals, they were less defensive, more able to engage in learning, and they arguably achieved more academically.
One key factor was identified as central to the effectiveness of the school. Students felt as if they belonged. They felt a real connection to the school itself, and not just to the individuals within it. They loved their school and described their experiences as feeling “like family”. One said that:
... it just seemed like the right place to be here, I fitted in here, more than I fitted anywhere else, it was like, it became my home the moment I walked through the gates, it was just, this was a much better place for me to learn ...
The importance of feeling a sense of belonging has been discussed in other literature. The positive outcomes for feeling a sense of belonging included an increased interest in school, higher commitment to academic work, lower levels of anxiety, increased autonomy and self-regulation, increased engagement and participation (Goodenow and Grady 1993; Osterman 2000).
The experiences of students at this small school are interesting because the school never specifically set out to encourage a sense of belonging. It happened as a result of its democratic structures, processes and ethos. As a consequence, it is a school that we, as educators, might all learn from.

Author

• Max Hope, University of Hull