Last week, The Times ran a particularly interesting article on student belonging at Edinburgh University. The article, linked here, reports that the university has written to all of their students asking them not to ridicule their peers that may have come to University from poorer backgrounds. Their more privileged students, who are in the majority, have been asked to stop acting like ‘boorish snobs’ and ridiculing their peers from poorer socio economic backgrounds, whom are routinely sneered at, particularly by students mimicking their accents, according to the article. This article highlights the central problem with social justice, individuals being made to feel that they don’t belong in certain environments, because they are the sanctuary of the privileged minority. This process of ‘othering’ is explored in more detail in my blog The Dark Side of Belonging.’
“I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.” Maya Angelou
Recently, Bridget Philipson and the new labour government have been talking of social justice rather than social mobility, which is a highly laudable concept, but this article from 2019 excellently explains why you can’t really have one without the other. The argument purports that social mobility furthers the premise that “only a few talented or lucky people deserve to escape the disadvantage they were born into.” whereas social justice promotes equality of opportunity for all but, either way, in order for our most advantaged students to take advantage of those opportunities, we need them to feel that they deserve a seat at any table. Social Justice is the ideal, social mobility is just one of the vehicles.
Lee Elliot Major has been carrying out some very powerful work looking at social mobility and disadvantage. His publication for the Sutton trust outlines the key enemies to social mobility and, in at number three, we see ‘academic supremacists.’ Those that see academic success as the route in to high paid jobs, higher esteem work and ultimately, the boardroom. Oxbridge graduates are seen as the elite candidates for senior roles, and yet the mechanisms for accessing these institutions are far from a level playing field. Having the right parents, coming from the right schools, being able to navigate the highly complex entry requirements all play a part in getting you through the door but, once you are there, the feeling that you belong there, that you deserve to be there, is the key to your success.
In the memoir of Vice President Dick Cheney, In My Time, he talks of the powerful belonging uncertainty he felt when he first attended Yale University. Coming from a rural town in Wyoming, attending Yale felt like landing in another country. He felt so awkward with his classmates, most of whom had attended prep school, that he dropped out after his first year. Aina et al (2020) carried out research in to the determinants of university drop out, finding that the key determining factor, was the students integration into academic and social life, ie, their feeling that they ‘belong’ there.
And so, how can those of us working with students from under resourced backgrounds, those traditionally seen as disadvantaged, ensure that if we give them the credentials to access higher learning institutions or careers, they have the sense of belonging that will keep them there?
In His book, Centennials, Alex Hill explores the habits of enduring organisations. Habit 3 he identifies as having ‘Strong Roots.’ In it, he explores Eton College and the role of the House Master, a role in which the incumbent commits to 13 years of service. The House Master looks after the students wellbeing and academic performance. He makes sure they get their homework done, advises them on which societies to join and which pastimes to pursue, in other words, he takes on the role of an ‘interested parent.’ His role is central to the overseeing and guarding of their community values. This, Eton say, is the central aspect to the education that their students get and furthermore, they are taking in a higher proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds than ever before. A quarter of students now receive financial support from the school, but those students do go on to complete their time at Eton, largely down to the feeling of belonging created through the House Master system. The House Master makes sure that they feel Eton is where they belong, that they have earned the right to be there and, we all know that in many ways Eton is epitomises the feeling of belonging to an institution. Ex students are fiercely proud of their educational heritage and their school tie, which is the ultimate door opener in the academic supremacist world identified by Lee Elliot Major.
Presently, I am privileged to be working with The Mossbourne Federation, a trust that is bucking the trend of social justice, gaining more Oxbridge places for their students than any other state institution, but also most private sector ones too. Their CEO, and former principal of Mossbourne Community Academy, Peter Hughes, is fiercely proud of his institution and wants his students to feel the same. He refers to them as ‘Mossbournians’, both staff and students, in the same way that you might be an old Etonian. In his book ‘Outstanding School Leadership,’ he outlines what it means to Mossbourne to be a Community School. At Mossbourne they have mapped out the journey to this goal as follows:
Milestone 1: Create a School to which you would send your children.
Milestone 2: Staff seek to send their own children there.
Milestone 3: Alumni become the teachers.
Milestone 4: Alumni send their children to the school.
Milestone 5: Alumni become governors.
Milestone 6: Alumni becomes principal.
Milestone 7: Alumni become CEO and chair of governors.
They are currently at Milestone 5, but what this roadmap explicitly tells the community is, this is your place, this is where you belong, and we want you to take ownership. That sense of belonging, breeds success.
In Walton and Cohen’s 2011 study ‘A brief social-belonging intervention improves academic and health outcomes of minority students’ They looked at how a brief intervention could change the narrative of belonging for African American college students. In their study, they asked these students to first of all read testimonials from former African American students stating that feelings of not belonging were normal at the start of college, but that these would soon pass. Then they asked them to write their own narrative about how they had overcome their lack of belonging, which they then turned in to a speech, that they presented. All the time, this was reaffirming that their feelings were normal for every student, and they would pass, it was not to do with them personally not fitting in. This changing of the narrative had a profound effect on these students, tripling their grade point average and significantly closing the performance gap with their peers.
So, what is clear, is that in order for strategies to close the disadvantaged gap to be successful, we need to change the narrative of belonging. Our perceived place in social structure, the institutions to which we have the right to attend, the jobs to which we have the right to aspire, the places in which we deserve to live. I refer back to Maya Angelou above, we need to recognise that we deserve to belong wherever we wish and to feel confidence in our presence there.
I her book Poor, Katriona O’Sullivan talks of finding her sense of belonging in school, with the right teachers. How those teachers helped her to feel that school and academia was the right place for her, but even then, when it came to college, it took extra will power and determination from within to really feel that people from her background could attend higher education. She had to rewrite her own internal narrative, with the help and support of caring professionals who could see her potential and went out of their way to encourage and support her.
In schools, we can work hard to help students with disadvantage to get a great set of results, but like lottery winners who cannot adjust to the highlife, they will squander their efforts if we cannot change the internal narrative, so that they feel belong wherever they choose to pursue their career goals.
At Westcountry Schools Trust, we are ‘proudly stealing’ a strategy that we were made aware of by Dixon’s Academies called “Headshot Bios” to promote student aspiration and self-reflection. This approach involves students crafting a concise biography that highlights their aspirations, values, and personal strengths, similar to how successful individuals summarise their achievements and goals.
Key Elements of the Strategy:
- Personal Reflection:
- Students reflect on their identity, ambitions, and accomplishments.
- They think about their future goals, the kind of person they want to be, and the impact they wish to have.
- Professional Framing:
- The bios are structured like professional profiles, typically consisting of 3-4 sentences.
- This encourages students to envision themselves as future leaders, professionals, or contributors to society.
- Aspirational Focus:
- Students articulate their aspirations clearly, fostering a mindset geared toward long-term success.
- It allows them to imagine their future selves in positive and ambitious terms.
- Public Display or Sharing:
- These bios may be shared within the school community, displayed publicly, or included in student portfolios.
- This creates a sense of accountability and pride while normalizing the articulation of ambition.
- Regular Updates:
- Students revisit and revise their bios periodically, reflecting growth in their aspirations and achievements.
This strategy is part of a broader emphasis on instilling a sense of purpose, resilience, and high standards in students. It empowers them to see themselves as capable of achieving great things and to communicate that vision effectively but, most importantly of all, it helps them to visualise themself in that future environment, establishing the sense of belonging very early on and embedding it.
Recently, I was privileged to listen to Matt Middlemore, DCEO of Kernow Learning MAT talking about his work in privileging disadvantaged, or under-resourced students. This Trust has significantly bucked the trend of underperformance in this demographic, to the point at which they are out performing national averages and closing the disadvantaged gap. Their pro-active policy in ensuring that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are the members of their sport teams, school councils and student champion roles, as well as the children stood at the front in celebration assemblies, plays a vital role in ensuring that these children feel at ease with success and a sense that they belong in the arenas of achievement. This echoes the excellent blog by Dan Nicholls, ‘Privileging disadvantage | Excellence, Equity, Culture’
Brene Brown in her book, Braving the Wilderness, concludes that true belonging is an internal state that doesn’t depend on others’ approval. It requires us to accept ourselves fully, have the courage to stand alone when necessary, and engage meaningfully with others. By doing so, we find a deep sense of peace and connection, even in times of loneliness or discord. It is this sense of belonging that will lead our students to feel at home on the pathway they choose, to feel that they deserve their space at any table and that they have the right to succeed in business, academia, relationships or wherever they choose. It is this sense of belonging that promotes our own self worth and will ultimately realise the ideology of social justice.
The Belonging Collective 