School Belonging: A Review of the History, Current Trends, and Future Directions
Abstract
School belonging, at both a school and university level, has been well documented as a predictor of academic and psychosocial success. The construct has been examined by scholars in a variety of different professional disciplines (e.g., education, psychology, sociology) and continues to be consistently researched. Although significant contributions have been made in the field, there are still additional areas of investigation needed, as well as interventions that need to be designed and explored. The current article was designed to review the theoretical foundations of belonging, conceptualise school belonging with respect to how it is presented in the literature, discuss the key variables related to school belonging, present a summary of the predictors of school belonging, discuss school belonging in a university setting, and posit future directions for research.
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SoSB is associated with emotional well-being, academic success, and social development.
“SoSB is associated with emotional well‐being, academic success, and social development [23, 24, 25].”
From Sense of School Belonging and School Reintegration for Students Hospitalized With Chronic or Complex Medical Diseases: Insights From a Grounded Theory Study (2026) · cites this paper as [25]
Cites
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“, 1996), school identification (Sirin & Rogers-Sirin, 2004; Wang & Eccles, 2012), school attachment (Hallinan, 2008) and a sense of community (Osterman, 2000).”
BackgroundA Brief Social-Belonging Intervention Improves Academic and Health Outcomes of Minority Students
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“Moreover, the benefits associated with belonging, whether it be to a group, school or community, have also been found to have lasting effects (Walton & Cohen, 2011; Walton, Cohen, Cwir, & Spencer, 2012).”
BackgroundStages of Student Departure: Reflections on the Longitudinal Character of Student Leaving
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Sense of School Belonging and Paediatric Illness: A Scoping Review
Tomberli, L., & Ciucci, E. (2021) · Continuity in Education · doi:10.5334/cie.32 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Xu, A., & Zhang, Y. (2025) · Asia Pacific Journal of Education · doi:10.1080/02188791.2025.2505665 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Tomberli, L., Vagnoli, L., Pavone, L., Amore, E., & Ciucci, E. (2026) · Journal of School Health · doi:10.1111/josh.70176
“Defined as feeling valued and connected to the school environment, SoSB is associated with emotional well-being, academic success, and social development [23–25].”
- Authors
- Slaten, C. D., Ferguson, J. K., Allen, K.-A., Brodrick, D.-V., & Waters, L.
- Affiliations
- University of Missouri (US)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- The Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, Australia
- Corresponding author
- Slaten, Christopher D.
- Venue
- The Educational and Developmental Psychologist
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2016-07-01
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-15
- ISSN
- 2059-0776 (ISSN-L)
- 2059-0784
- OpenAlex
- W2466799823
- Cited by
- 289
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 48 · 2025: 53 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 5
- FWCI
- 29.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Educational and Developmental Psychologist (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Social Sciences › Education › Higher Education Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Youth Development and Social Support
- Keywords
- school belonging, sense of belonging, university belonging, academic performance, psychosocial outcomes, belonging interventions
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