February 13, 2025, by Rupert Knight

How can schools create a sense of belonging for beginning teachers?

In this blog Esther Fulton looks at the importance of the sense of belonging in schools. Although there is a plethora of research around a sense of belonging for children, this blog focuses specifically on the role and responsibilities the teachers have in creating this belonging for themselves and the beginning teachers they mentor, before they can create it for the children.

Most humans want to fit in and be accepted for who they are. A sense of belonging is included in Maslow’s (1968) hierarchy of needs and follows the need for basic survival and safety. Having a strong sense of belonging underlies social-emotional wellbeing and the ability to learn new things.

For pupils to feel that they belong in a school context, they need to feel that they are accepted and are safe and trusted. The teacher’s role is to make sure this happens.

Kathryn Riley expresses belonging in these terms:

‘Belonging’ is a relational, cultural and geographic concept, a complex emotion triggered by a range of factors. It’s a sense of being somewhere you can be confident you will fit in, a feeling of being safe in your identity and of being at home in a place.
Young people’s sense of school belonging is shaped by what they bring to it – their histories, their day-to-day lived realities – as well as schools’ practices and expectations.

Therefore, I would argue that for pupils to feel like they belong, they need to have a teacher who also feels that they belong in that context.

This teacher needs to feel supported, accepted and valued for the work they do and to have a strong teacher identity (something I have touched on in a previous blog in this series).

Schools’ responsibilities: ‘building the village’

All beginning teachers who are embarking on their school placements of their training year may be feeling apprehensive about how they will be able to become a ‘legitimate member of the professional community’ (Maynard, 2000). As Ussher (2010) describes in their research, schools need to create a ‘village’ around each beginning teacher. This metaphor implies that the village should include all adults and children within the school context and its community. Building working reciprocal relationships within this ‘village’ will help the beginning teacher to show greater commitment and have a more positive perspective on teaching.

Following on from this, Pesonen et al.’s (2019) research has shown that it is fundamental to have warm relationships and trust amongst colleagues, leadership and the school climate for a sense of belonging to occur (see Figure 1).

These relationships should be built on mutual trust and respect and the beginning teacher needs to feel valued and accepted, even if they are not a paid member of the staff team. Further research from Maynard (2000) looked at the beginning teacher and mentor role and found that beginning teachers referred to ‘good’ mentoring as how the mentors made them feel, for example: welcome, accepted, included, supported and recognised as an individual. This shows that all teachers within a school community should be able to share their values and beliefs, gain job satisfaction and have the right motivation to do their job well.

Schools are diverse places and therefore, to allow beginner (and new) teachers to have a sense of belonging, school leaders need to make sure their schools are inclusive and fair communities. There are still prejudices around diversity (e.g. homophobia and racism) and teachers need to be the first bearers of inclusive messages. They hold a critical role in making sure children witness positive attitudes and view the world as a place of acceptance rather than seeing the world through differences. A beginning teacher needs to see this happening within the school context in order to also feel welcome and safe.

Beginning teachers’ responsibilities: being responsive to context

As the beginning teacher embarks on their next stage of teaching education, they need to think about how responsive they are being to their school context. During our teaching sessions here at the University of Nottingham, we talk to them about showing:

• commitment, by understanding the value of their mentor’s time;

• reciprocity where they should be accepting advice and sometimes criticism and responding to these professionally;

• vulnerability (being open-minded) by asking for help and support if they feel they are struggling and not to see this as a weakness.

Alongside this, we ask them about how ‘mentorable’ they are going to be by sharing this TED talk from Victoria Black with them.

All beginning teachers need to establish networks with the wider school community (and beyond) and build a rapport with their school mentor as well as the children in their care. They should witness effective teaching and be involved in professional reflection in order to become part of a community of practice. Wenger (1998) defines this as ‘groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.’

Beginning teachers will have their own preconceptions around the teacher role linked to their values and beliefs which they have already formed from their own educational experiences. However, to be part of the community of practice, it is important that they understand the preconceptions and expectations that the children they teach bring to school. They need to be careful not to undermine these by showing intolerance or lack of respect or imposing their own values and beliefs on the children (linked to Part Two of the Teachers’ Standards). Having a sense of belonging in any school context will have fundamental benefits for all involved. Beginning teachers need to view the school as a whole and make sure they are being as inclusive as possible with the children they teach as well as with the staff members they work with.

By working together, both school mentors and beginning teachers can build those positive relationships which will ultimately give everyone a sense of place, belonging and agency.

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