The Sense of Classroom Belonging Among Pre-Service Teachers: Testing a Theoretical Model

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to test a hypothetical model in order to examine the association between students' sense of classroom belonging along with four other university class-level variables including faculty-student relationships, connected classroom climate referring peer relationships, loneliness and classroom identity. It is intended to draw attention of teacher educators to the importance of creating sense of community at classroom level through this study in order to improve the quality of teacher education. With this aim, pre-service teachers attending the faculty of education were selected as sample of the study (N= 1425). Each measures used in this study was adapted for college-level students through confirmatory factor analysis in order to test specific predictions concerning each measure's structure and the results revealed that all measures have adequate psychometric properties. The model examined with structural equation modeling was an excellent fit with the data, and the results indicated that the fitted model explained 50% of the variance in classroom identity; 47% of the variance in sense of classroom belonging; 14% of the variance in classroom climate; and 9% of the variance in loneliness. Results and implications are discussed.

Academic Advising From the Views of Undergraduates: A Focus Group Study

“…The results also revealed that students give importance to the advisors' positive attitudes and behaviors that make them feel valuable and provide a sense of belonging as pointed out in the related literature (Freeman, Anderman, & Jensen, 2007;Bernier, Larose, & Soucy, 2005;Gizir, 2019;Uslu-Gülşen, 2017). The literature on the relationship between the student and faculty/advisor showed that a positive relationship between the student and advisor enables the development of positive attitudes toward learning and also toward the university (Booker, 2008;Chickering & Reisser, 1993;Gizir, 2019;Hoffman, 2014;Kuhn, Gordon, & Webber, 2006;Lamport, 1993;Sevinç & Gizir, 2014;Uslu-Gülşen, 2017).…”

“…Research findings demonstrated that undergraduates need to receive bureaucratic, educational, vocational/career, and personal/social advising to succeed academically, professionally and socially, and they have disappointments in the quality of advising that they receive as commonly emphasized in the related literature (Bernier, Larose, & Soucy, 2005;Çapa-Aydın et al, 2019;Drake, Jordan, & Miller, 2013;Köser & Mercanlıoğlu, 2010;Robins, 2012, Wilder, 1981. The results also revealed that students give importance to the advisors' positive attitudes and behaviors that make them feel valuable and provide a sense of belonging as pointed out in the related literature (Freeman, Anderman, & Jensen, 2007;Bernier, Larose, & Soucy, 2005;Gizir, 2019;Uslu-Gülşen, 2017). The literature on the relationship between the student and faculty/advisor showed that a positive relationship between the student and advisor enables the development of positive attitudes toward learning and also toward the university (Booker, 2008;Chickering & Reisser, 1993;Gizir, 2019;Hoffman, 2014;Kuhn, Gordon, & Webber, 2006;Lamport, 1993;Sevinç & Gizir, 2014;Uslu-Gülşen, 2017).…”

“…Benzer şekilde Bernier ve diğerleri (2005), akademik danışmanların bilgi, deneyim ve üniversitedeki pozisyonu gibi profesyonel özelliklerinden çok empatik, samimi, saygılı, dürüst, esnek, hoşgörülü ve ulaşılabilir olmak gibi kişisel özelliklerinin öğrenciler üzerinde daha etkili olduğunu belirmektedir. Danışmanlığın deneyimli bir yetişkin ile bir genç arasındaki güvene dayalı güçlü bir duygusal ilişki olarak (Sands, Parson ve Duane, 1991) tanımlanması dikkate alındığında bulgu dikkate değer görünmektedir Ayrıca ilgili alanyazında bir öğrenci ve öğretim elemanı arasında oluşan akademik, sosyal ve kişisel her türlü etkileşimin ilgi, sempati, anlayış ve umursama içeren bir etkileşim olarak algılandığı ve 'pedogojik ilgi' olarak isimlendirildiği belirtilmektedir (Chickering, 1969;Freeman, Anderman ve Jensen, 2007;Gizir, 2019;Meyers, 2009;Tinto, 1997). Bu kapsamda pedagojik olarak ilgili bir öğretim elemanının öğrencilere akademik konularda yol göstermesi ve destekleyici olmasının yanı sıra saygılı, öğrencilerin ihtiyaçlarına duyarlı, sevecen, sıklıkla geribildirim veren, canayakın, hoşgörülü, öğrencilerini tanıyan ve ulaşılabilir olması gerektiği vurgulanmaktadır.…”

Aulas afectivas e inclusivas y bienestar adolescente: una revisión sistemática

“…La población escolar más vulnerable, expuesta a factores de riesgo por razones socioeconómicas, culturales o familiares son más susceptibles que los restantes estudiantes de sufrir procesos de exclusión en el entorno escolar (Romero-Pérez et al, 2019). El profesorado que proporciona un ambiente de tolerancia, comprensión y aceptación, suscita sentimientos de seguridad, apoyo y reconocimiento entre sus estudiantes (Bulut e Iflazoglu, 2016;Gizir, 2019).…”

Projection in Education: Conditions for the Sustainable Development of Vietnamese Education

“…The projection of the students would help the educational managers actively adjust the number of the teachers appropriately, ensuring the quality of education. In contrast, the development of teacher staff was also put in the correlation with the students to have the right direction for training and developing the teacher staff rightly (Gizir, 2019). However, it was not simple to obtain the systematic data at the national level.…”