Belonging in education: co-designing an evidence-informed model of practice

Building on previous work, this project focuses on progressively working towards building more equitable and inclusive education systems, where belonging is the guiding principle.

Research shows that increasing numbers of children are missing out on education through school exclusion and low attendance, with children who experience other life challenges the most affected. Relational approaches have been identified as a promising way to address this problem.

This project will accelerate the impact of our previous research on school exclusion, and relational practice by building a ‘Belonging in Education Research Network’ of practitioners, system leaders, and academics working in education, children’s social care, special educational needs and disabilities, and youth justice to co-produce interventions that are compatible with different approaches, improve educational inclusion and outcomes, and can be robustly evaluated.

The purpose of the Belonging in Education Research Network is to build an evidence base for why belonging in education matters and how it can work effectively in practice, and to use this to advocate for change at national and local levels.

Members of the Research Network have developed and published an initial Statement on the Importance of ‘Belonging’ in Education. This Statement sets out a proposed definition of Belonging in Education and summarises insights from evidence and practice about the potential of whole school approaches to promote ‘Belonging’ to address some of the key challenges facing the education system.

The Network plans to work on a shared Practice Framework to promote Belonging in Education through relational approaches, and on a common approach to analysing existing data to provide an initial assessment of effectiveness.

If you are interested in joining the Research Network as a researcher or practitioner or have evidence to contribute, please fill in this contact form.

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