Initiatives that focus solely on raising a sense of belonging in school are “unlikely to translate into large improvements in attainment”, according to analysis for .
FFT stresses that monitoring pupils’ sense of belonging could “still be useful for schools” - but says schools need to be clear about what they are measuring and how that links to “specific, tangible actions”.
The analysis is deemed important by FFT because school belonging is “high on the education policy agenda in England”, with recent evidence suggesting that “many pupils feel less connected to school than they once did”.
Belonging and achievement
“At first glance, there does indeed seem to be a meaningful link between belonging and achievement,” finds the analysis by John Jerrim, a research associate at FFT and a professor of education and social statistics at UCL Institute of Education, who has published today on the issue.
Among Year 9 students measured, those who indicated a higher sense of belonging at school were likely to receive around half a grade higher in GCSE maths.
However, Professor Jerrim found that once other factors such as previous attainment and exclusion records were accounted for, the association between belonging and attainment reduced substantially.
Analysing international data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls), Professor Jerrim also found that all three studies’ measures, while intending to measure belonging, actually cover a “wide range of experiences”, including: the extent to which a pupil enjoys school, safety and relationships with teachers.
For example, Pisa scores focus on peer relationships, while Timss and Pirls “take a much broader approach, also asking about safety, teachers, pride and enjoyment of school”.
In other words, states Professor Jerrim, while different surveys may report a measure called “school belonging”, they can “conceptually measure quite distinct things”.
He says, however, that this does not mean schools should not measure belonging; instead, their responses should be guided by what is, in fact, being measured.
A student indicating a poorer sense of belonging because they are feeling unsafe, for example, requires a different response to a student who does not feel they belong because they believe teachers do not care about them.
‘Specific, tangible actions’
The monitoring of belonging could “still be useful for schools”, but Professor Jerrim adds: “Schools need to be clear about what the measure they use captures and then link the outcomes to specific, tangible actions. Otherwise, a seemingly precise belonging score may tell us surprisingly little about what pupils need.”
The FFT analysis also cautions against measuring belonging purely for the intention of driving up attainment.
“Feeling accepted and supported may matter for pupils’ wellbeing, attendance and experience of school,” says Professor Jerrim. “These are worthwhile outcomes in their own right.”
Nevertheless, the analysis finds that initiatives focused solely on raising school belonging are unlikely to translate into large improvements in attainment.
For Year 9 students, says Professor Jerrim, “when we control for demographics, school attended, key stage 2 scores and prior absences/exclusions, this amounts to only around one-sixth of a GCSE grade”.
The findings come after the government made pupil belonging a priority in its , published in February.
From 2029, all schools will be expected to measure pupils’ sense of belonging and engagement. The White Paper said that 60 per cent of schools did so at the time of publication.
In August, Vlog reported on government research that showed students who felt they did not belong in school had significantly lower GCSE attainment than those who felt a strong sense of belonging.
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