Abstract:

Students’ sense of safety at school is a fundamental condition for meaningful learning, positive social relationships, and healthy development. While school safety is often discussed in terms of physical protection or disciplinary policies, students’ subjective perceptions of safety represent an equally important dimension of the school environment. Feeling unsafe may undermine emotional well-being, weaken engagement with school life, and contribute to patterns of social exclusion and educational disadvantage. Understanding the factors associated with students’ feelings of safety is therefore essential for improving educational quality and promoting more equitable and supportive school systems.

This study examines how students who feel safe at school differ from those who feel unsafe across a broad range of experiences and outcomes. Particular attention is given to differences in emotional well-being, social relationships, academic behavior, and socio-economic background. The analysis is conceptually informed by ecological systems theory, as well as perspectives on psychological safety and social capital, which emphasize the importance of supportive relationships and access to social resources in shaping students’ school experiences. Together, these perspectives frame students’ sense of safety as a multidimensional phenomenon influenced by individual, relational, and institutional factors.

The study uses data from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022, covering students across participating education systems. Students were classified into groups of those who feel relatively safe and those who feel unsafe at school based on their responses to safety-related questionnaire items using a K-means clustering approach. The groups were then compared across indicators capturing academic behavior, emotional well-being, social relationships, perceptions of school climate, and socio-economic-cultural background.

The findings reveal consistent differences between the two groups. Students who feel safe at school tend to demonstrate more positive academic engagement, including lower levels of truancy and grade repetition. They also report higher emotional resilience and are less likely to experience bullying. In the social domain, these students describe stronger relationships with teachers and greater perceived support from family. Differences in socio-economic and cultural status are also observed, suggesting that structural inequalities may influence students’ experiences of safety. However, long-term academic expectations, such as career aspirations, show relatively small differences between the groups.

Overall, the results indicate that perceived safety is closely linked with students’ emotional well-being, social relationships, and everyday engagement in school life. Improving school safety therefore requires not only physical measures but also efforts to strengthen supportive relationships, foster inclusive school climates, and address inequalities that may shape students’ experiences of belonging and security.

Keywords:

School safety, Student well-being, School climate, Student engagement, Educational inequality, PISA 2022.