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Navigating School Belonging in Qatari Schools: A Mixed-Methods Study of Student Perspectives

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Title: Navigating School Belonging in Qatari Schools: A Mixed-Methods Study of Student Perspectives
Language: English
Authors: Kelly-Ann Allen (ORCID 0000-0002-6813-0034), Shannon McCarthy, Rania Sawalhi, Emily Berger, Fiona May, Lefteris Patlamazoglou, Nicholas Gamble, Christine Grové, Gerald Wurf, Elisa Jones Arango, William Warton, Andrea Reupert
Source: European Journal of Education. 2024 59(4).
Availability: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 18
Publication Date: 2024
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Student School Relationship, Secondary School Students, Student Attitudes, Distance Education, In Person Learning, Teacher Role, School Role, Caring, Teacher Student Relationship, Learner Engagement, Educational Environment, School Policy, Peer Relationship
Geographic Terms: Qatar
DOI: 10.1111/ejed.12704
ISSN: 0141-8211
1465-3435
Abstract: A sense of school belonging is essential for adolescent development, though there is limited research investigating ways to improve students' sense of school belonging in Qatar. With 116 Qatari secondary school students, the current study explored student perspectives of ways teachers and schools could improve their sense of school belonging. Students responded to a survey including open-ended questions and a descriptive scale measuring the usefulness of established belonging strategies during remote learning, in-person, or all the time (both). Encouragement and support from teachers were found to be useful all the time, with school activities during breaks and opportunities to make friends only being useful during school-based learning. From the examination of open-ended responses using a hybrid qualitative approach with inductive and deductive coding, two overarching themes each at the teacher-level and school-level were found, defined by several subthemes. Belonging practices at the teacher-level included caring and supportive teachers and teachers treating students as people. Belonging practices at the school-level included student engagement and a positive and supportive school environment. For Qatari students practices such as prioritising supportive student-teacher relationships, introducing policies which promote a respectful, fair and safe environment, and offering school wide-extracurricular activities that encourage peer connections are important to develop their sense of school belonging.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2024
Accession Number: EJ1450364
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0181057308;eje01dec.24;2024Nov26.04:09;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0181057308-1">Navigating school belonging in Qatari schools: A mixed‐methods study of student perspectives </title> <p>A sense of school belonging is essential for adolescent development, though there is limited research investigating ways to improve students' sense of school belonging in Qatar. With 116 Qatari secondary school students, the current study explored student perspectives of ways teachers and schools could improve their sense of school belonging. Students responded to a survey including open‐ended questions and a descriptive scale measuring the usefulness of established belonging strategies during remote learning, in‐person, or all the time (both). Encouragement and support from teachers were found to be useful all the time, with school activities during breaks and opportunities to make friends only being useful during school‐based learning. From the examination of open‐ended responses using a hybrid qualitative approach with inductive and deductive coding, two overarching themes each at the teacher‐level and school‐level were found, defined by several subthemes. Belonging practices at the teacher‐level included caring and supportive teachers and teachers treating students as people. Belonging practices at the school‐level included student engagement and a positive and supportive school environment. For Qatari students practices such as prioritising supportive student–teacher relationships, introducing policies which promote a respectful, fair and safe environment, and offering school wide‐extracurricular activities that encourage peer connections are important to develop their sense of school belonging.</p> <p>Keywords: equality; Qatar; school belonging; socio‐ecological; support</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-2">INTRODUCTION</hd> <p>A sense of belonging is a fundamental human need (Allen, Gray, et al., [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref1">8</reflink>]; Baumeister & Leary, [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref2">14</reflink>]), reflecting an innate desire for connection with others. As such, a sense of belonging is crucial to adolescent development and is associated with social and emotional well‐being and self‐esteem (Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref3">7</reflink>]; Arslan et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref4">13</reflink>]; Begen & Turner‐Cobb, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref5">15</reflink>]; Korpershoek et al., [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref6">34</reflink>]). For adolescents, school is an environment where they can build relationships and connections with others and develop a sense of belonging. While improving Qatari students' sense of school belonging may have significant effects on their overall well‐being and adjustment (Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref7">7</reflink>]; Arslan et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref8">13</reflink>]; Begen & Turner‐Cobb, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref9">15</reflink>]; Korpershoek et al., [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref10">34</reflink>]), there is a dearth of studies investigating students' sense of school belonging in Qatar and the surrounding Arabian Gulf (Al‐Saleh, [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref11">2</reflink>]; Al‐Sheeb et al., [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref12">3</reflink>]). Moreover, there are limited school belonging interventions available for schools to implement with their staff and students, particularly in non‐western countries (Allen, Jamshidi, et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref13">9</reflink>]).</p> <p>In Qatar, education is vital to the nation's economic, social and political growth (Sawalhi & Tamimi, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref14">47</reflink>]). From 2001 to 2011, Qatar underwent a large‐scale educational reform called the Education for a New Era (EFNE), which was designed to improve the education system (see Nasser, [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref15">42</reflink>]). Since then, there has been a continued aim to develop and provide an elite educational system, resulting in the introduction of a broad spectrum of programs and alterations to the EFNE (Tok et al., [<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref16">51</reflink>]). More recently, Qatar has been an attractive place for international schools to operate due to its growing economy and population and welcoming attitude towards expatriates (Sawalhi & Tamimi, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref17">47</reflink>]). With a strong emphasis on educational reform and an evolving international school platform, Qatar offers a unique educational context to explore factors of school belonging including a diverse student body, public and international school systems, education reform efforts, community engagement initiatives and non‐Western, Islamic cultural traditions.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-3">School belonging in Qatar</hd> <p>A sense of school belonging is commonly described as a students' feeling that they are accepted, included, supported and respected within their school social environment (Goodenow & Grady, [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref18">25</reflink>]). Many synonymous terms exist in the educational research literature, such as school connectedness, school attachment or school membership (Christenson et al., [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref19">23</reflink>]), though each highlights that a students' sense of belonging is multi‐faceted, and incorporates relationships with peers, teachers and the school community, as well as their experiences and feelings about the school (Allen & Bowles, [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref20">6</reflink>]; Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref21">10</reflink>]; O'Brien & Bowles, [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref22">44</reflink>]). Recent data collected in Qatar indicates that a considerable number of Qatari students do not feel a sense of belonging at school (Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development [OECD], [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref23">45</reflink>]). The most recent OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) revealed that one‐third of Qatari students did not feel they belonged at their school. Similarly, approximately one‐third of Qatari students felt that they were an outsider at school and that they felt awkward, and out of place (OECD, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref24">45</reflink>]). Compared to the established average across OECD countries, Qatari students scored lower in most school belonging indicators. Further, a large percentage of Qatar's population is comprised of expatriates (Snoj, [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref25">50</reflink>]; World Population Review, [<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref26">58</reflink>]), which may have significant implications for adolescents' sense of school belonging in government, private and international schools (Sawalhi & Tamimi, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref27">47</reflink>]).</p> <p>Two recent studies investigating students' sense of school belonging in Qatar and Kuwait defined school belonging in terms of feeling a part of the school community (Al‐Sheeb et al., [<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref28">3</reflink>]), and students' respect for school property, following school rules, and relationships (Al‐Saleh, [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref29">2</reflink>]). Preliminary research in the Arabian Gulf has demonstrated significant differences between boys' and girls' sense of belonging at school, with girls reporting greater respect for the school rules and property and boys reporting stronger relationships (Al‐Saleh, [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref30">2</reflink>]). However, recent meta‐analyses that have explored gender and school belonging have revealed negligible effect sizes (Allen, Jamshidi, et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref31">9</reflink>]; Korpershoek et al., [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref32">34</reflink>]). Based on their findings, Al‐Saleh ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref33">2</reflink>]) provided a set of recommendations for schools to promote Kuwaiti students' sense of school belonging, such as school leaders being role models for their students; teachers listening to students; increasing student participation; students collaborating in and agreeing about school regulations; and school leaders being aware of their students' ethnic and religious backgrounds. While these recommendations provide initial avenues for schools in the Arabian Gulf to foster a sense of school belonging, no studies have investigated ways to foster students' sense of school belonging in Qatar, specifically.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-4">School belonging in the context of COVID‐19</hd> <p>Fostering students' sense of school belonging may be increasingly important as they return to school following several months of remote learning during the COVID‐19 pandemic (Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref34">5</reflink>]; Burke & Arslan, [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref35">20</reflink>]; Waters, Allen, et al., [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref36">55</reflink>]; Waters, Cameron, et al., [<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref37">56</reflink>]). Throughout the pandemic, approximately 90% of students across the world, including Qatar, experienced remote learning due to school closures (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation [UNESCO], [<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref38">52</reflink>]). During periods of remote learning, online teaching and learning were not widely adopted in Qatar (Chaaban et al., [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref39">21</reflink>]). Since returning to school, students have experienced difficulties mixing with students and staff from other classes and have experienced a reduction in extracurricular activities (Ministry of Public Health, [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref40">39</reflink>]). School closures have resulted in students experiencing physical isolation and an increased feeling of social seclusion and loneliness (Loades et al., [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref41">37</reflink>]). Moreover, remote learning has been associated with an increase in students' risk of depression and anxiety (Loades et al., [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref42">37</reflink>]; Nearchou et al., [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref43">43</reflink>]), among other mental health and wellbeing concerns (Martinex & Nguyen, [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref44">38</reflink>]; Nanigopal et al., [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref45">41</reflink>]; Singh et al., [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref46">49</reflink>]).</p> <p>While prior to the pandemic, a third of Qatari students reported feeling like they did not belong at school (OECD, [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref47">45</reflink>]), preliminary research indicates that the pandemic has adversely affected students' sense of school belonging (Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref48">5</reflink>]; Waters, Allen, et al., [<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref49">55</reflink>]). Therefore, it is vital for schools to implement practices to improve students' sense of school belonging as they return to school. To implement effective interventions and strategies for promoting school belonging, schools require a model to understand the avenues through which their students' sense of school belonging can be influenced and developed (Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref50">11</reflink>]; Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref51">10</reflink>]; Allen, Vella‐Brodrick, et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref52">12</reflink>]). Recent belonging research has utilised the socio‐ecological model of school belonging to explore student‐identified practices for improving school belonging across different domain levels (i.e., Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref53">11</reflink>]; Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref54">10</reflink>]; Allen, Vella‐Brodrick, et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref55">12</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-5">The socio‐ecological model of school belonging</hd> <p>The socio‐ecological model of school belonging (Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref56">10</reflink>]; Allen, Vella‐Brodrick, et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref57">12</reflink>]) proposes that students' sense of school belonging is influenced at different levels of their school social system. These levels include the student themselves (academic motivation, personal characteristics), as well as their microsystem (relationships with parents, peers and teachers), mesosystem (school rules and practices), exosystem (extended school community) and macrosystem (legislation, social norms and government initiatives). The socio‐ecological model is an adaption of Bronfenbrenner's ([<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref58">19</reflink>]) bio‐ecological systems theory and provides an opportunity to understand how school belonging can be developed and fostered in students at different levels of a school system (Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref59">11</reflink>]; Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref60">10</reflink>]; Allen, Vella‐Brodrick, et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref61">12</reflink>]). The current study will focus on the ways in which Qatari students' sense of school belonging is influenced, and thus can be developed, at the teacher and school levels (i.e., microsystem and mesosystem, respectfully). The focus will remain on these two levels as they have been previously identified to have a direct impact on student belonging (Allen, Jamshidi, et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref62">9</reflink>]; Craggs & Kelly, [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref63">24</reflink>]), and will be the easiest levels to implement belonging practices at.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-6">The importance of student voice</hd> <p>By taking students' experiences and perspectives into consideration, schools can design initiatives and implement practices to increase students' sense of belonging that are aligned with student needs and preferences. Including student voices in these practices and initiatives may mean students are more likely to actively participate and engage with them as their perspectives have been heard (Proctor et al., [<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref64">46</reflink>]). Further, there is evidence that these practices and initiatives to improve belonging may be more effective when student voice is included (Craggs & Kelly, [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref65">24</reflink>]; Lansdown et al., [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref66">36</reflink>]). For instance, students have reported feelings of autonomy, empowerment and stronger relatedness and connection to their school after providing their perspectives on school well‐being initiatives and after being active members of the change process (Halliday et al., [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref67">29</reflink>]). Thus, listening to students' perspectives on their sense of school belonging may increase their sense of school belonging in and of itself. However, no research thus far has explored Qatari students' perspectives on the school belonging practices that they feel their teachers and schools could implement to support their sense of school belonging.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-7">The current study</hd> <p>The current study seeks to bridge some of the gaps in the belonging literature and present students' perspectives on the ways in which teachers and schools can foster their sense of school belonging in Qatar. Additionally, this study aims to utilise Qatari students' voices and perspectives to develop a set of recommendations for teacher‐ and school‐level practices that can be implemented as a means of improving and rebuilding students' sense of school belonging post COVID‐19 and beyond. The following exploratory research questions guided the current study:</p> <p></p> <ulist> <item> Which established school belonging practices do Qatari students identify as being useful during school‐based learning, during remote learning, and/or during both?</item> <p></p> <item> Which teacher‐level practices do Qatari students report could be implemented to improve their sense of school belonging, if any?</item> <p></p> <item> Which school‐level practices do Qatari students report could be implemented to improve their sense of school belonging, if any?</item> </ulist> <hd id="AN0181057308-8">METHOD</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0181057308-9">Participants</hd> <p>Participants consisted of 116 secondary school students from Qatar (see Table 1), aged 14–19 years (<emph>M</emph> = 16.22, <emph>SD</emph> = 0.10). Over half of the participants were female (65.5%), and all participants reported speaking English at home, with most students also reporting speaking Arabic (94.8%). Most participants reported attending a boys‐ or girls‐only school (33.6% and 63.8%, respectively), with a smaller proportion reporting attending a co‐educational school (2.6%). School attendance during the COVID‐19 pandemic varied, with over a third of participants reporting they attended school remotely (36.2%), over half of the students experienced a combination of remote and school‐based learning (54.3%), and a small proportion continued to study at school (6.0%).</p> <p>1 TABLE Demographic characteristics of Qatari secondary school students.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th align="left">Characteristic</th><th align="left"><italic>n</italic></th><th align="left">%</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td align="left">Gender</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Girl</td><td align="char" char=".">76</td><td align="char" char=".">65.55</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Boy</td><td align="char" char=".">40</td><td align="char" char=".">34.45</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Language spoken at home<xref ref-type="fn" rid="tfn2" /></td></tr><tr><td align="left">English</td><td align="char" char=".">116</td><td align="char" char=".">100.00</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Arabic</td><td align="char" char=".">110</td><td align="char" char=".">94.83</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Other</td><td align="char" char=".">3</td><td align="char" char=".">2.59</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Location</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Metropolitan</td><td align="char" char=".">105</td><td align="char" char=".">90.52</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Remote</td><td align="char" char=".">11</td><td align="char" char=".">9.48</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Type of school</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Government high school</td><td align="char" char=".">99</td><td align="char" char=".">85.34</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Government K‐12 school</td><td align="char" char=".">8</td><td align="char" char=".">6.70</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Independent (private) high school</td><td align="char" char=".">7</td><td align="char" char=".">6.03</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Faith‐based high school</td><td align="char" char=".">2</td><td align="char" char=".">1.72</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Student make‐up</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Boys only</td><td align="char" char=".">39</td><td align="char" char=".">33.62</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Girls only</td><td align="char" char=".">74</td><td align="char" char=".">63.79</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Co‐educational</td><td align="char" char=".">3</td><td align="char" char=".">2.59</td></tr><tr><td align="left">School attendance during COVID‐19 lockdown</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Attendance on school grounds</td><td align="char" char=".">7</td><td align="char" char=".">6.03</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Remote learning</td><td align="char" char=".">42</td><td align="char" char=".">36.21</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Both, but mostly attendance on school grounds</td><td align="char" char=".">34</td><td align="char" char=".">29.31</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Both, but mostly remote learning</td><td align="char" char=".">29</td><td align="char" char=".">25.00</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Other</td><td align="char" char=".">4</td><td align="char" char=".">3.45</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>1 <emph>Note</emph>: <emph>N</emph> = 116, K‐12 refers to schools that have a preschool, primary and secondary levels.</p> <p>2 a Participants could select more than one response option.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-10">Measures</hd> <p>An online survey with items on students' demographic information and contextual information in relation to the COVID‐19 pandemic was used. Student ratings of belonging practices were measured for importance during remote learning and/or face‐to‐face learning. The survey also consisted of two open‐ended items used to explore teacher‐ and school‐level practices for improving belonging: "What are things your teachers could do (what would you like them to know or do) to help you feel like you belong at school?" and "What are other things that could be done at your school to help you feel like you belong?"</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-11">School belonging practices measure</hd> <p>The School Belonging Practices Measure (Allen, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref68">4</reflink>]) was developed by the principal investigator and is informed by meta‐analytic evidence regarding school belonging practices (see Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref69">10</reflink>]). In the current study, this measure was used to identify Qatari students' ratings of the importance of different school belonging practices during remote learning, and/or face‐to‐face learning. It is a self‐report questionnaire comprised of 27‐item reflecting various evidence‐based practices shown to boost school belonging in the literature. Each item was rated on a 3‐point Likert scale and students were required to indicate whether the practice would help foster a sense of school belonging: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref70">1</reflink>) during remote learning (i.e., <emph>useful during remote learning</emph>), (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref71">2</reflink>) when school returns to face‐to‐face learning (i.e., <emph>useful when school returns to normal</emph>), (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref72">3</reflink>) or both (i.e., <emph>useful all the time</emph>).</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-12">Procedure</hd> <p>Ethical approval for the conduct of the study was granted from Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee. An anonymous online survey link was shared with the principals and student affairs staff of all secondary public and private schools in Qatar by author #3 in September 2020. Several reminders and phone calls were considered to encourage principals to share the link with their students. Due to the anonymity of the survey, school details of participating schools were not recorded. The survey was translated from English to Arabic with a back‐to‐back (reverse) translation technique. Survey items were initially translated from English to Arabic by a member of the research team. An independent Arabic–English translator then back‐translated the items from Arabic back to English. Another member of the research team confirmed that the back‐translated version in English was similar to the original version of the survey. The survey items consisted of both Arabic and English versions. Students' qualitative item responses were translated from Arabic to English by a member of the research team for analysis.</p> <p>The online survey includes an explanation on how the participants will be involved in the study, as well as the ethical considerations, including participant well‐being, informed consent, confidentiality and storage of information. Participants provided informed consent prior to proceeding to the survey and acknowledged whether they had informed their parents/carers of their involvement in the research.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-13">Analysis</hd> <p>Raw data were analysed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences 27 (SPSS‐27). Data were cleaned for duplicate responses and missing data. Only participants who responded to all items were included in the analysis of the School Belonging Practice Measure (<emph>N</emph> = 87). Additionally, only those participants who responded to at least one of the open‐ended questions were included in the thematic analysis (<emph>N</emph> = 116). Descriptive statistics were calculated for variables of interest, including means and standard deviations for continuous variables, and frequencies and percentages for categorical and dichotomous variables.</p> <p>For the qualitative inquiry, open‐ended survey responses were analysed following Xu and Zammit's ([<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref73">59</reflink>]) hybrid application of thematic analysis to educational research. This hybrid approach uses both inductive and deductive coding for the theme development typically associated with thematic analysis. The hybrid analytic process enabled progression to identify and formulate belonging strategies, beyond the typical generation of codes at the semantic level. As this approach is underpinned by constructivist epistemology, theory‐ and data‐driven codes were established by drawing on the raw data and the research team's pre‐existing exposure to the literature on belonging. The open‐ended questions focussed on school‐ and teacher‐level factors for improving belonging. Therefore, themes were identified through a combination of bottom‐up and top‐down approaches. The stages followed for this analysis included data familiarisation, generation of initial codes (from commonly occurring keywords or phrases across participants), subtheme generation from conceptually related codes, review of generated subthemes, and establishment of overarching themes from conceptually related subthemes (Xu & Zammit, [<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref74">59</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-14">RESULTS</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0181057308-15">Useful belonging practices</hd> <p>In examining the utility of various belonging practices as identified by Qatari students during remote learning, school‐based learning, or both, we initiated our analysis with a clear distinction between these contexts. Our aim was to uncover nuanced differences in students' perceptions of belonging across these settings, particularly considering the mixed online and face‐to‐face learning modalities post‐COVID‐19. We organised our findings to contrast the effectiveness of these practices in remote versus school‐based contexts, as summarised in Table 2. Our descriptive analysis revealed that while some practices are universally beneficial, others hold specific value in the traditional, in‐person learning environment. For instance, practices such as peer mentorship and break‐time activities were predominantly valued in school‐based settings, underscoring the importance of physical presence and interaction in fostering connections among students. No higher than approximately 14% of the sample rated any established school belonging practice as useful during remote learning. A total of 16 of the 27 practices were identified as being useful all the time than in any one specific context by greater than 50% of the sample.</p> <p>2 TABLE Qatari students' responses to the school belonging practices measure.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th align="left">Item</th><th align="left">Useful during remote learning</th><th align="left">Useful during school‐based learning</th><th align="left">Useful all the time</th></tr><tr><th align="left"><italic>n</italic> (%)</th><th align="left"><italic>n</italic> (%)</th><th align="left"><italic>n</italic> (%)</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td align="left">My teachers encourage me to do well at school</td><td align="char" char="(">5 (5.75%)</td><td align="char" char="(">24 (27.59%)</td><td align="char" char="(">58 (66.67%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My teachers expect me to do well at school</td><td align="char" char="(">8 (9.20%)</td><td align="char" char="(">29 (33.33%)</td><td align="char" char="(">50 (57.47%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My teachers explain the reasons behind what I am being taught</td><td align="char" char="(">4 (4.60%)</td><td align="char" char="(">28 (32.18%)</td><td align="char" char="(">55 (63.22%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My teacher tells me the purpose of her lessons</td><td align="char" char="(">4 (4.60%)</td><td align="char" char="(">34 (39.08%)</td><td align="char" char="(">49 (56.32%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My teacher encourages me to set goals for my own learning</td><td align="char" char="(">6 (6.90%)</td><td align="char" char="(">26 (29.89%)</td><td align="char" char="(">55 (63.22%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">At my school, I am able to learn study skills like time management and problem solving</td><td align="char" char="(">8 (9.20%)</td><td align="char" char="(">42 (48.28%)</td><td align="char" char="(">37 (42.53%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">At my school, I am able to learn skills that help me cope with stress</td><td align="char" char="(">9 (10.34%)</td><td align="char" char="(">34 (39.08%)</td><td align="char" char="(">44 (50.57%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school provides career guidance</td><td align="char" char="(">5 (5.75%)</td><td align="char" char="(">34 (39.08%)</td><td align="char" char="(">48 (55.17%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school encourages me to think about my future</td><td align="char" char="(">4 (4.60%)</td><td align="char" char="(">26 (29.89%)</td><td align="char" char="(">57 (65.52%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school teaches me how to look after my mental health</td><td align="char" char="(">10 (11.49%)</td><td align="char" char="(">28 (32.18%)</td><td align="char" char="(">49 (56.32%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school has resources like a school psychologist if I need to speak to someone</td><td align="char" char="(">5 (5.75%)</td><td align="char" char="(">43 (49.43%)</td><td align="char" char="(">39 (44.83%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school encourages me to use my strengths</td><td align="char" char="(">5 (5.75%)</td><td align="char" char="(">37 (42.53%)</td><td align="char" char="(">45 (51.72%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school teaches skills that help me make and keep friends</td><td align="char" char="(">8 (9.20%)</td><td align="char" char="(">50 (57.47%)</td><td align="char" char="(">29 (33.33%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school provides ways for my parents to be involved in the school if they want to</td><td align="char" char="(">7 (8.05%)</td><td align="char" char="(">28 (32.18%)</td><td align="char" char="(">52 (59.77%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school offers opportunities for me to make friends</td><td align="char" char="(">7 (8.05%)</td><td align="char" char="(">53 (60.92%)</td><td align="char" char="(">27 (31.03%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school helps me to get to know the other students</td><td align="char" char="(">5 (5.75%)</td><td align="char" char="(">51 (58.62%)</td><td align="char" char="(">31 (35.63%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school has activities at break times where I can go if I don't have someone to sit with</td><td align="char" char="(">11 (12.64%)</td><td align="char" char="(">60 (68.97%)</td><td align="char" char="(">16 (18.39%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school has student mentors that I can talk to</td><td align="char" char="(">12 (13.79%)</td><td align="char" char="(">48 (55.17%)</td><td align="char" char="(">27 (31.03%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">I can talk to my teachers about my feelings</td><td align="char" char="(">12 (13.79%)</td><td align="char" char="(">41 (47.13%)</td><td align="char" char="(">34 (39.08%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">I can ask my teachers for help with my learning</td><td align="char" char="(">4 (4.60%)</td><td align="char" char="(">22 (25.29%)</td><td align="char" char="(">61 (70.11%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My teachers take the time to get to know me as a person</td><td align="char" char="(">9 (10.34%)</td><td align="char" char="(">40 (45.98%)</td><td align="char" char="(">38 (43.69%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My teachers know my name</td><td align="char" char="(">4 (4.60%)</td><td align="char" char="(">16 (18.39%)</td><td align="char" char="(">67 (77.01%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My teachers treat students fairly</td><td align="char" char="(">9 (10.34%)</td><td align="char" char="(">21 (24.12%)</td><td align="char" char="(">57 (65.52%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My teachers model respectful behaviours</td><td align="char" char="(">9 (10.34%)</td><td align="char" char="(">16 (18.39%)</td><td align="char" char="(">62 (71.26%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school has extra‐curricular activities I can join</td><td align="char" char="(">9 (10.34%)</td><td align="char" char="(">42 (48.28%)</td><td align="char" char="(">36 (41.38%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school has a policy on belonging</td><td align="char" char="(">6 (6.90%)</td><td align="char" char="(">34 (39.08%)</td><td align="char" char="(">47 (54.02%)</td></tr><tr><td align="left">My school has belonging mentioned in their vision and mission statement</td><td align="char" char="(">10 (11.49%)</td><td align="char" char="(">24 (27.59%)</td><td align="char" char="(">53 (60.92%)</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>3 <emph>Note</emph>: <emph>N</emph> = 87. Findings of greater than 50% are bolded.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-16">Teacher‐level practices to improve school belonging</hd> <p>The students' responses to an open‐ended survey item about teacher‐level practices that could improve their sense of school belonging generated two over‐arching themes and several subthemes (see Table 3). The themes are presented below with direct, anonymised quotes from participants that support their content and structure. It is important to note that there is some overlap in themes between teacher and school level attributes, however they are still presented separately as it is important to identify themes that cross socio‐ecological levels.</p> <p>3 TABLE Teacher‐level factors identified by Qatari students as promoting school belonging.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th align="left">Teacher‐level factors</th><th align="left"><italic>n</italic></th><th align="left">%</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td align="left">Caring and supportive teachers</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Friendly and approachable</td><td align="char" char=".">22</td><td align="char" char=".">18.97</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Caring and understanding</td><td align="char" char=".">28</td><td align="char" char=".">24.14</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Encouraging</td><td align="char" char=".">12</td><td align="char" char=".">10.34</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Academic support</td><td align="char" char=".">24</td><td align="char" char=".">20.69</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Emotional support</td><td align="char" char=".">13</td><td align="char" char=".">11.21</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Treat students as people</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Promote autonomy</td><td align="char" char=".">14</td><td align="char" char=".">12.07</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Respect and equality</td><td align="char" char=".">19</td><td align="char" char=".">16.38</td></tr><tr><td align="left">No response</td><td align="char" char=".">21</td><td align="char" char=".">18.13</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>4 <emph>Note</emph>: No response included responses such as "I don't know," "nothing," or unclear. Students could endorse multiple themes, and so the frequencies do not sum to 100%.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-17">Caring and supportive teachers</hd> <p>Five sub‐themes were identified within the over‐arching theme of caring and supportive teachers, including teachers being friendly and approachable, caring and understanding, encouraging students and also offering academic and emotional support. Several students (<emph>n</emph> = 22; 18.97%) described the importance of teachers being friendly and approachable in promoting their sense of school belonging. Some students highlighted the importance of teachers knowing their students, "I want the school teachers not to see the academic side only, but to talk with all students and know their ambitions, goals and hobbies." Others highlighted the importance of teachers being able to "laugh with [them]," and "smile." The teacher attribute that had the largest proportion of students mentioned as being beneficial to school belonging (<emph>n</emph> = 28; 24.14%) was that of being caring and understanding. While some students reported the importance of teachers caring about them, "care about me as a person first before caring about my academic achievements and the school's reputation," others reported the importance of teachers listening to them, "they hear what I say," and understanding what they go through, "consider what is going on in a student's life," and "understanding the feelings and circumstances of the student."</p> <p>A number of students (<emph>n</emph> = 12; 10.34%) reported the importance of their teachers being encouraging, as a means of increasing their school belonging, "encourage us to continue studying" and "make us feel that studying isn't just an obligation but also something we need a lot and to concentrate on understanding." Students also reported the importance of teachers encouraging them outside of their academic performance, "encouraging students to express themselves" and "focus on [their] strengths and motivation," including encouraging them to be themselves, "I think about how happy I would've been if I was given a chance to really embrace who I am... to be who I want to be without worrying about being accepted or not."</p> <p>Around one‐fifth of students (<emph>n</emph> = 24; 20.69%) reported that teachers providing academic support were an important factor in developing their sense of belonging at school, "they go out of their way to make sure that I understand the lesson." Students reported benefit from teachers checking their understanding, "make learning easier, be direct to the point, making sure that the students understand fully." Others reported the importance of their teachers offering additional help, where they "always help to get success and excel female students," and "offer remedial lessons outside working hours." Additionally, several students (<emph>n</emph> = 13; 11.21%) reported a benefit from teachers providing emotional support for improving belonging, often this was centred around not generating excess stress, "try not to stress me about school," where teachers needed to avoid "psychologically frustrate[ing] students." For others, they wanted teachers to "help [them] deal with mental health instead of making it worse."</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-18">Treat students as people</hd> <p>Two sub‐themes were identified within the over‐arching theme of treating students as people, including promoting student autonomy, and treating them with respect and equality. Several students (<emph>n</emph> = 14; 12.07%) reported that teachers providing them with greater autonomy could serve to improve their school belonging. These students indicated increased sense of freedom and less strict rules would be of benefit, "to have our own space or our freedom," and "to be less strict with rules." Autonomy was also sought through teachers improving student social skills, to "help the shy introvert students develop their personality in a good way, to be more comfortable and freer around other people." Students also highlighted the importance of teachers treating them with respect and equality (<emph>n</emph> = 19; 16.38%) in promoting their sense of belonging at school, "the treatment is equal, meaning that there is no racism or that the teacher prefers a student over all [others]." For these students, teachers should promote "good treatment of all students and not to differentiate in terms of colour, intelligence, level or anything." For other students, respect focussed on teachers respecting "student boundaries," and showing "mutual respect" towards students.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-19">School‐level practices to improve school belonging</hd> <p>Analysis of students' responses to an open‐ended survey item asking about school‐level factors that could improve their sense of school belong generated two overarching themes and several subthemes (see Table 4). The themes are presented below with direct, anonymised quotes from participants that support their content and structure.</p> <p>4 TABLE School‐level factors identified by Qatari students as promoting school belonging.</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th align="left">School‐level factors</th><th align="left"><italic>n</italic></th><th align="left"><italic>%</italic></th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td align="left">Student engagement</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Opportunities for peer connections</td><td align="char" char=".">25</td><td align="char" char=".">21.55</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Student voice and involvement</td><td align="char" char=".">14</td><td align="char" char=".">12.07</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Positive and supportive school environment</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Approachable and supportive staff</td><td align="char" char=".">24</td><td align="char" char=".">20.69</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Safe and comfortable environment</td><td align="char" char=".">14</td><td align="char" char=".">12.07</td></tr><tr><td align="left">Emotional support</td><td align="char" char=".">13</td><td align="char" char=".">11.21</td></tr><tr><td align="left">No response</td><td align="char" char=".">31</td><td align="char" char=".">26.72</td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>5 <emph>Note</emph>: No response included responses such as "I don't know," "nothing," or unclear. Students could endorse multiple themes, and so the frequencies do not sum to 100%.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-20">Student engagement</hd> <p>Two sub‐themes were identified within the overarching theme of student engagement. Students perceive schools as a great venue for providing opportunities for engagement through extracurricular activities, and the inclusion of students in school decisions is important for their sense of belonging. Participants cited that peer connections facilitated by extracurricular activities would help improve their sense of belonging (<emph>n</emph> = 25; 21.55%). For these participants, it was important that they could "make more friends" and learn "how to have a good friendship with the other students," through these activities. The content of these activities varied widely, such as having "fun days like pyjama day, crazy hairstyle day," whereas, for others, these were "activities that suit students' interests, such as hosting a specific writer or [...] arts and drawing." Sporting activities were not mentioned by participants, with all activities centred around their own general interests, like "sculpture, cooking, embroidery, and maybe lectures on things that attract attention." While sports were not highlighted, some students acknowledged the importance of healthy "competitions between students." A smaller proportion of students (<emph>n</emph> = 14; 12.07%) reported that encouraging student voice and involvement in school decisions was another way in which schools could foster a sense of belonging. Here, schools could "involve [students] in setting school decisions" and encourage student "participation in the student council, cooperation and initiative, and [the] exchange of ideas and proposals," so that students had more of an active role in their school experience.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-21">Positive and supportive school environment</hd> <p>Three sub‐themes were identified within the overarching theme of schools maintaining a positive and supportive environment, including staff being approachable and supportive, the school environment being safe and comfortable, and students having better access to emotional support. Consistent with the teacher‐level practices identified by students, around one‐fifth of students (<emph>n</emph> = 24; 20.69%) highlighted the importance of having caring, approachable and supportive staff at school to improve their sense of belonging. They reported the benefit of having staff who can "chat comfortably with students" and be "friends, not bosses." Some highlighted the importance of staff making the effort "to know each student's background," and also "call [them] by [their] name, because [...] the school is [their] home and the teachers are members of the family."</p> <p>Similarly, having a school environment that is safe, and comfortable was reported by some students (<emph>n</emph> = 14; 12.07%) as being an important aspect of improving their sense of school belonging. In terms of comfort, students described the benefit of schools offering "occasional comfort from the abundance of information" that they are taught, such as "a special classroom for students [...] when feeling constant pressure." Regarding school being a safe space, students noted simply that they wanted schools to "make school safe," though some students did elaborate that they wanted "school [to be] a safe space for [them]." Strategies suggested for implementing this included schools making an effort to "spread the positivity," and also "help make a better atmosphere at school." Other students (<emph>n</emph> = 13; 11.21%) highlighted the importance of better access to emotional support for improving their sense of belonging at school. These responses were not specifically directed at teachers and instead involved school resources, such as "having a psychological counsellor [students] can rely on," or were a more general request for schools to "provide mental health assistance."</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-22">DISCUSSION</hd> <p>The current investigation into the sense of belonging among senior Qatari students during different stages of the pandemic provides a critical addition to the largely Western‐centric body of literature on school belonging (Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref75">7</reflink>]; Arslan et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref76">13</reflink>]; Begen & Turner‐Cobb, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref77">15</reflink>]; Korpershoek et al., [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref78">34</reflink>]). This study, set against the backdrop of Qatar's distinct socio‐cultural and educational landscape, examines the multifaceted ways in which teachers and schools can nurture a sense of belonging within the Qatari context. The socio‐ecological model of school belonging was used to understand the ways in which Qatari students' school belonging can be fostered at different levels of the school system, including the teacher level (microsystem) and school level (mesosystem; see Allen, Vella‐Brodrick, et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref79">12</reflink>]). The following presents a discussion of student rated belonging practices, as well as the themes identified at teacher level (microsystem) and school level (mesosystem) related to practices to promote school belonging. In some instances, themes emerged at both the teacher and school levels, however they are discussed separate to highlight any nuances within each level.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-23">Useful belonging practices</hd> <p>Students in the current study rated 27 school belonging practices previously identified in the literature as being useful in improving their sense of school belonging in online settings, school settings, or both (Allen, [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref80">4</reflink>]; Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref81">10</reflink>]). Interestingly, no belonging practices received overwhelming support for being useful during remote learning. Rather, students reported several practices as being particularly relevant in the school setting only. Notably, school activities during breaks and opportunities to make friends were useful during school‐based learning only. The development of students' connections with their peers may be particularly important for schools to implement as their students have returned to face‐to‐face learning in school. Being able to talk to teachers about their feelings, teachers getting to know students as a person (including knowing their name), and schools hosting extracurricular activities, were strategies that were similarly useful in both online and in‐person settings. These findings are aligned with Allen, Kern and colleagues ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref82">10</reflink>]) building supportive student–teacher relationships, providing access to student mentors, and offering school‐wide extracurricular activities may serve to promote students' sense of school belonging for students as they return to school.</p> <p>Our descriptive analysis was complemented by a thematic exploration of open‐ended responses, aiming to deepen our understanding of the quantitative patterns observed. For example, while the utility of extracurricular activities was similarly rated across both contexts, qualitative insights revealed a profound appreciation for the social connections facilitated by these activities, regardless of the learning environment. The distinction between extracurricular and curricular activities was particularly noteworthy, with students valuing activities such as cooking, sculpture and embroidery not traditionally included in the curriculum. These findings prompt a re‐evaluation of what constitutes extracurricular engagement and its impact on students' sense of belonging.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-24">Student‐identified teacher‐level practices to promote school belonging</hd> <p>Regarding teacher‐level (microsystem) practices that students indicated would promote a sense of school belonging, two overarching themes were generated, including caring and supportive teachers, and treat students as people. Categories such as <emph>academic support</emph> were deliberately nested under <emph>caring teachers</emph>, reflecting students' perceptions of academic guidance as an integral aspect of teacher support. Conversely, <emph>treating students as people</emph> emerged as a distinct theme, highlighting the importance of respect and personal recognition in fostering a sense of belonging.</p> <p>These findings are consistent with those of a meta‐analysis conducted by Allen, Kern and colleagues ([<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref83">10</reflink>]) who found that access to supportive and caring teachers strongly influence students' sense of school belonging. Caring has often been discussed in terms of <emph>caring for</emph> students (as teacher's contractual obligations related to their duty of care) and <emph>caring about students</emph>, which includes the social and emotional context of caring and nurturing student–teacher relationships (Laletas & Reupert, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref84">35</reflink>]). Caring about students requires an attitude and disposition that involves behavioural, intellectual and ethical decision‐making processes (Laletas & Reupert, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref85">35</reflink>]), is amendable to training (Kemp & Reupert, [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref86">31</reflink>]), and is a priority to promote.</p> <p>Teachers providing academic and emotional support were reported by students to support their sense of school belonging. Such practices included teachers checking their students' understanding and offering additional support as needed, reducing students' frustration in the classroom and supporting their mental health. These findings are consistent with those previously identified in the school belonging literature (e.g., Allen, Jamshidi, et al., [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref87">9</reflink>]; Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref88">10</reflink>]; Shochet et al., [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref89">48</reflink>]; Uslu & Gizir, [<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref90">53</reflink>]; Waters et al., [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref91">57</reflink>]), and suggest that building supportive student–teacher relationships may be especially important in promoting students' sense of belonging at school. Access to supportive and caring teachers, who students feel comfortable talking to, may be increasingly important for building students' sense of school belonging as they return to school after months of remote learning.</p> <p>Within the theme of treating students as people, the importance of promoting greater autonomy was identified, as well teachers treating students with respect and equality. Using longitudinal data, teachers promoting student autonomy has been linked to reducing anxiety and depression, and improving basic psychological needs satisfaction (Yu et al., [<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref92">60</reflink>]). Moreover, encouraging autonomy early in the classroom has been found to improve student engagement throughout the year when compared to classrooms without autonomy (Hafen et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref93">28</reflink>]). The theme of respect and equality is in line with the findings of Ibrahim and El Zaatari ([<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref94">30</reflink>]), who reported that understanding, cooperation and a balance of power are important for developing positive student–teacher relationships and thus, students' sense of school belonging. Moreover, the importance of fairness and equality in promoting a sense of school belonging has been highlighted in previous research (Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref95">10</reflink>]). Within the current sample, it is important to note that despite the already high reports of students feeling respected within their school, respect and equality emerged at both the teacher level (microsystem) and school level (mesosystem), the latter level discussed in more detail below. This may suggest that attributes of respect are not only important in the absence of a respectful school culture, but rather respect stands as a central practice to foster school belonging.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-25">Student‐identified school‐level practices to promote school belonging</hd> <p>When asked to provide perspectives about school‐level (mesosystem) practices that Qatari students felt could improve their sense of school belonging, two overarching themes were generated. These themes included student engagement and a positive and supportive school environment. Consistent with the teacher‐level practices, students highlighted the benefit of being surrounded by approachable and supportive staff, who know their name, background, goals and ambitions. Another practice that was apparent across socio‐ecological levels was emotional support, which included support from teachers, and better access to counsellors and mental health assistance. Due to the emergence of these practices across socio‐ecological, levels they should receive more global consideration through school‐wide policies and practices as they can improve school belonging through multiple avenues of implementation.</p> <p>Specific to school‐level practices, students' responses suggested that they would benefit from schools providing opportunities for peer connections, including school‐wide extracurricular activities and competitions between students, as well as support to establish new friendships with other students. The connection between extra‐curricular activities and belonging is inconsistent in the literature. Several studies have indicated the importance of extracurricular activity participation in strengthening school belonging (e.g., Blomfield & Barber, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref96">16</reflink>]; Bouchard & Berg, [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref97">17</reflink>]; Waters et al., [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref98">57</reflink>]). Though, findings from a meta‐analysis have indicated that school‐wide extracurricular activities are not significantly associated with school belonging in Western countries (Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref99">10</reflink>]), the analysis was contrained by the small number of studies available at the time. Nonetheless, the findings of the current study indicate that Qatari students perceive these activities to be important for promoting their sense of school belonging upon returning to school. Further, these findings may reflect the negative impact of COVID‐19 on students access to social opportunities and connections.</p> <p>Overall, the school‐level practices reported above are in accordance with those previously identified in the literature and suggest that school policies encompassing respect, equality and safety could be prioritised to support students' sense of belonging at school (Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref100">11</reflink>]; Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref101">10</reflink>]; Blomfield & Barber, [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref102">16</reflink>]; Chapman et al., [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref103">22</reflink>]; Knifsend & Graham, [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref104">33</reflink>]; Waters et al., [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref105">57</reflink>]). Further, these findings reflect the recommendations provided by Al‐Saleh ([<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref106">2</reflink>]), highlighting the importance of school leaders and teachers listening to students, increasing students' participation in extracurricular activities, collaborating with students and encouraging student voice and involvement in school regulations and policy. Additionally, school leaders being aware of their students' ethnic and religious backgrounds may be especially important for promoting a sense of school belonging for international Qatari students (Al‐Saleh, [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref107">2</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-26">Implications for schools</hd> <p>Qatar's educational landscape, defined by its cultural heritage and rapid modernisation, offers unique considerations for the findings of this study. The integration of traditional values with progressive educational reforms creates a complex environment where students navigate their identities and sense of belonging. This context amplifies the importance of our findings, suggesting that the strategies identified here, particularly those emphasising respect, autonomy and inclusivity, might have broader implications in similar settings undergoing cultural and educational transformations.</p> <p>Given that a number of school belonging practices identified in the literature align with the perspectives of Qatari students (e.g., teacher support, equality, respect and extracurricular activities), the following practices could be readily implemented in schools. First, Qatari schools may benefit from introducing policies and procedures that promote a positive, respectful, fair and safe environment for all students (see Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref108">11</reflink>]). Second, the findings of the current study emphasise the importance of positive student–teacher relationships in improving Qatari students' sense of school belonging. To achieve such relationships, schools could provide their teachers and staff with opportunities for professional development in school belonging (Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref109">11</reflink>]; Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref110">10</reflink>]; Bower et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref111">18</reflink>]). Similarly, providing teachers with encouragement and opportunities to get to know their students may enhance the quality of student–teacher relationships (Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref112">11</reflink>]; Chapman et al., [<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref113">22</reflink>]; Shochet et al., [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref114">48</reflink>]; Waters et al., [<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref115">57</reflink>]). It is important to highlight that while the student–teacher relationship is considered a fundamental component to education, this relationship should still be guided by professional codes of conduct (Morris et al., [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref116">40</reflink>]). As such, opportunities for professional development in this space need to pay close attention to professional conduct, personal conduct and professional competence to define and clarify the boundaries of being 'friends' within a student–teacher relationship.</p> <p>Given that many students reported needing more peer‐based opportunities to socialise, schools may also benefit from offering curricular and extracurricular activities for students, including lunchtime and after school activities (clubs and interest groups) and competitions between students (sports days, dress up days, etc). Further, encouraging student‐led study groups and tutoring programs can provide educational support for students while developing their connections with peers (Allen et al., [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref117">11</reflink>]). As students identified the importance of receiving emotional support from their teachers and school, providing students with avenues for specialised psychological support for their emotional and social well‐being would be of benefit (Bower et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref118">18</reflink>]; Grove & Laletas, [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref119">27</reflink>]).</p> <p>Last, students in the current study emphasised the importance of student voice and involvement in school decisions in improving their sense of school belonging. To achieve this, schools may benefit from creating student‐led groups such as a student representative committee and increase pathways for their students to feel like their voice is being heard by school leadership (Greenwood & Kelly, [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref120">26</reflink>]). While these committees are offered in most, if not all schools, the level of student leadership and involvement vary.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-27">Limitations and future research</hd> <p>While the current study makes a valuable contribution to the school belonging literature, some considerations should be made when interpreting the results. Many of the students' responses were translated from Arabic to English for the purpose of this study. Challenges associated with the translation of Arabic to English in qualitative research have been noted previously, such as the potential loss of meaning in translation (Al‐Amer et al., [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref121">1</reflink>]). Further, while the current study explored students' perspectives of factors in their microsystem (e.g., teacher‐level factors) and mesosystem (e.g., school‐level factors), it was outside the scope of the study to consider factors at the individual level (e.g., academic motivation, personal characteristics and mental health) or other microsystem‐level factors (e.g., parental and peer factors). These factors have previously been identified as important predictors of students' sense of school belonging and could be explored in future research (Allen, Vella‐Brodrick, et al., [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref122">12</reflink>]; Kiefer et al., [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref123">32</reflink>]; Wang & Eccles, [<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref124">54</reflink>]).</p> <p>An additional area beyond the scope of this study, yet critical for a comprehensive understanding of school belonging, involves the exploration of religious influences. While our data hinted at the significance of religious context in shaping students' experiences of belonging, this aspect remained underexplored. Future research could benefit from a focused inquiry into how religious identity and practices intersect with educational experiences in Qatar, offering a richer understanding of student belonging.</p> <p>Future research would also benefit from exploring school belonging in the context of inclusive practices that account for different student groups and populations in Qatar. As gender differences in school belonging have been noted in the Arabian Gulf previously (Al‐Saleh, [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref125">2</reflink>]), future research could explore differences in student perspectives about school belonging practices in Qatari schools across the gender spectrum. Further, given that Qatar is largely a multicultural nation, with a large proportion of its population being expatriates, future research could also examine school belonging across Arab and international secondary schools.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-28">CONCLUSIONS</hd> <p>The current study makes several important contributions to the literature. First, it explored which school belonging practices (previously identified in the literature; Allen, Kern, et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref126">10</reflink>]) Qatari students reported as being useful during remote learning, school‐based learning and/or both. Second, it utilised Qatari students' perspectives to identify teacher‐ and school‐level practices that could be implemented to increase their sense of school belonging. It is important for secondary schools in Qatar to implement practices which promote supportive student–teacher relationships, respect, equality, safety and school wide‐extracurricular activities to encourage peer connections. In doing so, Qatari schools may be able to improve their students' sense of school belonging in a post‐pandemic context and beyond.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-29">ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS</hd> <p>We thank the Faculty of Education for the internal funding supplied toward this project through the Grand Challenges scheme. Open access publishing facilitated by Monash University, as part of the Wiley ‐ Monash University agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-30">FUNDING INFORMATION</hd> <p>This work was supported by the Monash University under the internal Grand Challenges Grant.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-31">CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT</hd> <p>The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.</p> <hd id="AN0181057308-32">DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT</hd> <p>Data not available due to ethical restrictions.</p> <ref id="AN0181057308-33"> <title> REFERENCES </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref70" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Al‐Amer, R., Ramjan, L., Glew, P., Darwish, M., & Salamonson, Y. (2016). Language translation challenges with Arabic speakers participating in qualitative research studies. 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Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Navigating School Belonging in Qatari Schools: A Mixed-Methods Study of Student Perspectives
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Kelly-Ann+Allen%22">Kelly-Ann Allen</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6813-0034">0000-0002-6813-0034</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Shannon+McCarthy%22">Shannon McCarthy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Rania+Sawalhi%22">Rania Sawalhi</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Emily+Berger%22">Emily Berger</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Fiona+May%22">Fiona May</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lefteris+Patlamazoglou%22">Lefteris Patlamazoglou</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Nicholas+Gamble%22">Nicholas Gamble</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Christine+Grové%22">Christine Grové</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Gerald+Wurf%22">Gerald Wurf</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Elisa+Jones+Arango%22">Elisa Jones Arango</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22William+Warton%22">William Warton</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Andrea+Reupert%22">Andrea Reupert</searchLink>
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22European+Journal+of+Education%22"><i>European Journal of Education</i></searchLink>. 2024 59(4).
– Name: Avail
  Label: Availability
  Group: Avail
  Data: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
– Name: PeerReviewed
  Label: Peer Reviewed
  Group: SrcInfo
  Data: Y
– Name: Pages
  Label: Page Count
  Group: Src
  Data: 18
– Name: DatePubCY
  Label: Publication Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2024
– Name: TypeDocument
  Label: Document Type
  Group: TypDoc
  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
– Name: Audience
  Label: Education Level
  Group: Audnce
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Secondary+Education%22">Secondary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foreign+Countries%22">Foreign Countries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+School+Relationship%22">Student School Relationship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Secondary+School+Students%22">Secondary School Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Attitudes%22">Student Attitudes</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Distance+Education%22">Distance Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22In+Person+Learning%22">In Person Learning</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teacher+Role%22">Teacher Role</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22School+Role%22">School Role</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Caring%22">Caring</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teacher+Student+Relationship%22">Teacher Student Relationship</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Learner+Engagement%22">Learner Engagement</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+Environment%22">Educational Environment</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22School+Policy%22">School Policy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Peer+Relationship%22">Peer Relationship</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Geographic Terms
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Qatar%22">Qatar</searchLink>
– Name: DOI
  Label: DOI
  Group: ID
  Data: 10.1111/ejed.12704
– Name: ISSN
  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 0141-8211<br />1465-3435
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: A sense of school belonging is essential for adolescent development, though there is limited research investigating ways to improve students' sense of school belonging in Qatar. With 116 Qatari secondary school students, the current study explored student perspectives of ways teachers and schools could improve their sense of school belonging. Students responded to a survey including open-ended questions and a descriptive scale measuring the usefulness of established belonging strategies during remote learning, in-person, or all the time (both). Encouragement and support from teachers were found to be useful all the time, with school activities during breaks and opportunities to make friends only being useful during school-based learning. From the examination of open-ended responses using a hybrid qualitative approach with inductive and deductive coding, two overarching themes each at the teacher-level and school-level were found, defined by several subthemes. Belonging practices at the teacher-level included caring and supportive teachers and teachers treating students as people. Belonging practices at the school-level included student engagement and a positive and supportive school environment. For Qatari students practices such as prioritising supportive student-teacher relationships, introducing policies which promote a respectful, fair and safe environment, and offering school wide-extracurricular activities that encourage peer connections are important to develop their sense of school belonging.
– Name: AbstractInfo
  Label: Abstractor
  Group: Ab
  Data: As Provided
– Name: DateEntry
  Label: Entry Date
  Group: Date
  Data: 2024
– Name: AN
  Label: Accession Number
  Group: ID
  Data: EJ1450364
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1450364
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    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1111/ejed.12704
    Languages:
      – Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 18
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Student School Relationship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Secondary School Students
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      – SubjectFull: Student Attitudes
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      – SubjectFull: In Person Learning
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      – SubjectFull: School Role
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      – SubjectFull: Caring
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      – SubjectFull: Learner Engagement
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      – SubjectFull: Peer Relationship
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Qatar
        Type: general
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      – TitleFull: Navigating School Belonging in Qatari Schools: A Mixed-Methods Study of Student Perspectives
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