The Belonging Collective

A blog focused on the research around belonging, connection and relationships in education and their impact on pupil performance and motivation.

Author: Phil Banks

  • Belonging as the Key Agent in Social Justice.

    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,…

  • The Dark Side of Belonging

    Helping students to find their sense of belonging is not all about test scores and performance outcomes. It is proven to impact these, as outlined in my previous blog The Belonging Bonus, but this should not be the reason for our focus. If belonging is something that we all seek, (Maslow 1943) and we don’t…

  • Belonging and Cognitive Load Theory.

    When I first started this blog page, I had a great response from the brilliant Aimee Tinkler asking how I thought belonging might affect the learners brain in the classroom and whether developing a strong sense of belonging in our students might release additional mental capacity for learning? This is a great question, and one…

  • My Best Bets for Belonging .

    As the new term begins, it is vital that we get off on the right foot, making sure that from day one, all of our students, old and new, feel a connection with us that will activate their sense of belonging. By doing this, we can make sure that our schools are a positive environment…

  • Taking the pulse of belonging.

    Measurement is the first step that leads to control and eventually to improvement. If you can’t measure something, you can’t understand it. If you can’t understand it, you can’t control it. If you can’t control it, you can’t improve it. H. James Harrington. Having established in my blog, The Belonging Bonus that increased sense of…

  • Why seems a great place to start.

    Simon Sinek said ‘Start with the Why.’ so here we go. Why Belonging, why The Belonging Collective, Why a blog? All very good and valid questions. It seems that Belonging is on every presentation I attend currently, whether it is on behaviour, attendance, educational engagement or special educational needs. In one of her final speeches…