Abstract:

The sense of school belonging defined as the degree to which students feel accepted, respected, included, and supported is a crucial component of overall youth well-being. Based on positive interpersonal relationships it is strongly connected with life satisfaction. Life satisfaction tends to decline in adolescence across many countries, thus it is important to identify and support factors preserving mental health and well-being.

Our analysis is based on student data on belonging from the PISA 2022, PIRLS 2021, and TIMSS 2023 studies. Students answered a set of questions related to institutional belonging and their relationships with peers and teachers, which were used to create standardized scales. We compared the average belonging scores across 14 European countries, noting gender differences, for all European countries represented in all 3 studies. We also used linear regression on PISA 2022 data to examine the relation between school belonging and life satisfaction, controlling for gender and socio-economic status.

The comparison of average sense of belonging shows that Polish, Czech Republic and Latvian students (both 15-year-olds and 4th graders) are those who face the most serious issues with their sense of school belonging. They score significantly below average in all three international assessments. On the other hand, Spain and Denmark consistently (within all three studies) are leaders of school belonging, scoring above the average. A notable exception is Turkey, which has the highest belonging score among fourth graders, but one of the lowest among 15-year-olds.

Regarding gender differences, 2 opposite tendencies are observed: girls reported higher belonging among 4th graders, while boys reported the highest average belonging among 15-year-olds. This shift was evident in almost all analyzed countries.School belonging was found to be a significant predictor of life satisfaction in all 14 countries. The strongest link was observed in Ireland, while Central and Eastern European countries showed a relatively strong relationship. The weakest link was observed in Sweden, Turkey, and Spain.

In conclusion, the low sense of belonging is a critical concern for Poland, the Czech Republic, and Latvia, given the relatively strong relationship between belonging and life satisfaction. Moreover, the reversal of the gender trend with age, observed in all countries, requires further research, possibly investigating whether this shift is due to developmental factors or the influence of gender stereotypes in later adolescence. Lastly, Spain and Denmark should be examined for best practices in creating an inclusive school climate, as they achieve high scores in both age groups. However, the relatively weak link between belonging and life satisfaction in Spain suggests that other variables may be more critical for explaining student satisfaction there.

Keywords:

Sense of school belonging, life satisfaction, international student large scale assessment, PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS.