Belongingness Sample Clauses

Belongingness. A student’s feeling of belonging is closely associated with his/her successful transition from school to university and as noted earlier, belongingness has been associated with differences in student achievement at university (HEFCE, 2015b). A student’s sense of belonging to their University has been defined as “the psychological sense that one is a valued member of the college community” (Xxxxxxxx et al., 2007). In the context of dental education, belongingness has been defined as being: “a deeply personal and contextually mediated experience in which a student becomes an essential and respected part of the dental educational environment where all are accepted and equally valued by each other and which allows each individual student to develop autonomy, self-reflection and self-actualisation as a clinician” (Xxxxxxx & Xxxxxxx, 2016). Students’ interactions on both a social and academic level help give a sense of belonging (Glass & Westmont, 2014) with increased stress and emotional problems liable to occur in those who feel they do not belong (Xxxxxxx & Richmond, 2008). A longitudinal survey of first-year students at an American university reported that peer-group interaction, faculty interaction, peer support and parental support were associated with a sense of belonging, at the start of the academic year (Xxxxxxxx et al., 2007). They observed a sense of belonging predicted students’ intentions to persist and noted a decline in sense of belonging as the academic year progressed. The rate of decline was influenced by levels of academic integration and parental support; high levels of academic integration resulted in a greater sense of belonging, though interestingly high levels of parental support were associated with a decline in sense of belonging (Xxxxxxxx et al., 2007). The work of Glass & Westmont (2014), involving eight American universities, established that a sense of belongingness was related to academic success for both home and International students, though more so in the latter group, possibly due to the lower levels of social support they have compared to home students. Interestingly, this sense of belongingness was greater for first-year than senior students. A link with academic performance was similarly established by Xxxxxxx & Xxxxxxx (2013). The relationship between procrastination, belongingness and academic performance of 671 first-year American university students was explored, using structural equation modelling. Students that tende...