Students’ Sense of Belonging to School and Their Perceptions of Teachers: A Comparative Study (Joining virtually)
Students' sense of belonging to school is an important research topic because when students feel like they are a part of a school community, they are more likely to perform better academically, be more motivated to learn, and have higher self-esteem. Using the survey data collected in 2019-2020 for Advancing Education in Muslim Societies (AEMS), this study examines differences between countries in the strength of students’ sense of belonging at school and differences in students' perception of teachers , and how they are associated with students’ type of school (public/private), gender and religion. Using IRT model, we seek to answer the following research questions:
- How does the students’ sense of belonging differ among the countries in the sample?
- Does the sense of belonging differ among students in public schools versus private schools (in each country separately)?
- Is there a difference between students’ sense of belonging between girls and boys (in each country separately)?
- Does the sense of belonging differ between students with different religions?
- Does the students’ perception of teachers differ by country, gender and students’ religion?
Donia Smaali Bouhlila holds a Ph.D in Development Economics and a research diploma (HDR). She is a full time assistant-professor at the Faculty of Economics and Management of Tunis-University of Tunis El Manar. She is an associate editor at International Journal of Educational Development. She is a research associate at the Economic Research Forum (ERF) and a senior researcher at Laboratoire Prospectives, Stratégies et Développement Durable (PS2D).
Imen Hentati holds a PhD in Family Economics. She is a full time assistant-professor at the Faculty of Economics and Management of Tunis-University of Tunis El Manar. She is a researcher at the Laboratory for Research on Quantitative Development Economics (LAREQUAD).