"I actually felt belonging yesterday when I ate my pizza."
research participant, age 6
Research
What does it mean to belong?
"You can’t be how others are. If you were the same then you wouldn’t know who is your friend or your dad or . . . you."
- research participant, age 4
My research explored young children's perspectives on belonging in linguistically, culturally and ethnically diverse educational settings and examined how adults might access these perceptions in developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive and sustaining ways.
Eighteen children, aged 4 to 6, shared their insights through drawing and storytelling. Their voices offer profound understandings, challenge adult assumptions, and invite educators to listen more closely and respond more intentionally.
Ecology of Belonging: theory, pedagogy, structures
Discover how children’s insights can inform the pedagogies, systems, and theoretical perspectives that shape schools and help us create spaces where belonging is not only possible, but foundational. This research is published as a chapter in: "The Handbook of Research on Critical Issues and Global Trends in International Education."
You can purchase the individual chapter or the full book.
Abstract
This paper builds an understanding of belonging and examines it in the context of international schools. It focuses on the early years and explores a case study at a well-established international school with eighteen 4- to 6-year-old children. Together with the children, the researcher co-constructs understandings around young children's ontological perceptions of belonging. The research explores children's views of what enables and what hinders belonging in ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse international educational spaces and culturally responsive and developmentally appropriate means through which these perceptions can be accessed. The chapter then discusses the implications and recommendations resulting from the case study. It offers methodological practices for research with young children in international spaces, possibilities for further research, as well as theoretical, pedagogical, and structural considerations for international educators and school leaders striving to create inclusive spaces.