A Sense of Belonging in Regional Queensland Special Schools From the Perspective of School Leaders, Teachers, and Teacher Aides

Marie Hayward; Margaret Marshman

doi:10.1017/jsi.2025.2

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A Sense of Belonging in Regional Queensland Special Schools From the Perspective of School Leaders, Teachers, and Teacher Aides

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

A Sense of Belonging in Regional Queensland Special Schools From the Perspective of School Leaders, Teachers, and Teacher Aides

Marie Hayward and Margaret Marshman

Australasian Journal of Special and Inclusive Education, Vol.49(1), pp.1-14

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/jsi.2025.2

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Abstract

sense of belonging

school culture

relationships

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST)

inclusion

special schools

Sense of belonging is a complex construct that we all strive for in our daily lives. Sense of school belonging influences educational outcomes and is vital for cognitive, behavioural, and socio-emotional success at school. Sense of belonging for students with disability in special schools has rarely been examined and is not well understood. In this study, we investigated the role special school leaders, teachers, and teacher aides play in building a sense of belonging for themselves and their students. Two hundred and sixty-two participants from 10 state special schools within a regional area of Queensland, Australia, completed a survey to determine their perceptions of how special school staff promoted school belonging as well as their knowledge of policy documents. Responses consistently indicated a positive sense of school belonging across all schools. Findings highlight what school leaders, teachers, and teacher aides do in their everyday practices to promote a strong sense of belonging at their special schools, including building positive trusting relationships with all stakeholders, learning environments that valued diversity and difference, inclusive practices that met the social and academic needs of students, and schools' organisational practices.

Details

Title: A Sense of Belonging in Regional Queensland Special Schools From the Perspective of School Leaders, Teachers, and Teacher Aides
Authors: Marie Hayward - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Education and Tertiary Access
Margaret Marshman (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Education and Tertiary Access
Publication details: Australasian Journal of Special and Inclusive Education, Vol.49(1), pp.1-14
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.1017/jsi.2025.2
ISSN: 2515-074X
Copyright note: © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Australian Association of Special Education. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Organisation Unit: School of Education and Tertiary Access; STEM in Education Research Theme
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991127505502621
Output Type: Journal article

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