Peps Mccrea discusses how the research on belonging is well-established, but that teachers aren’t always as familiar with it compared to other aspects of teaching and learning. He shares how teachers can use strategies that promote affinity and build status for pupils.
Dr Pamela Cantor MD shares how creating belonging is imperative so that pupils feel safe enough to take risks on behalf of learning. She sets out some of the neurobiology that underpins belonging, and how busy teachers should invest time in setting the preconditions for a classroom where all pupils belong.
Rachel Higginson draws on her experience working with children on the periphery of school, including those at risk of exclusion, or those with neurodiversity. She explains how giving pupils a voice is imperative for them to feel agency and therefore belonging, and how teachers can do this.
Emily Simpson-Horne shares how, as headteacher of a new all-through school, she has placed belonging at the heart of everything that they do. She talks about how staff work with children and families to deeply understand them, and prepare pupils to ‘write their own stories’.
Adam Strom is director for Reimagining Migration, and sets out how important belonging is in communities with migrant populations. He argues that belonging is crucial not only for all children and young people to thrive, but for democracy and civic institutions themselves to function.
David Yeager is a professor of psychology, but was also a middle school teacher. Here he talks about how having high standards and rigour are not in opposition to building belonging, but rather that they mutually reinforce one another.
