A Sense of Belonging in Multicultural Schools: Opinions of Future Italian and Canadian Primary Teachers

Teachers say that in order to perform their job well, it is essential to be able to bring together the heterogeneous students of a class into a group, a community of learning. Students of different ages, personalities, social status, and gender meet in a space that they will have to share for days, months, and years, as public schools welcome individuals from very different worlds.The ability of children to cope with the demands of the new world of education is, writes Judy Dunn, closely linked to the type of relationships that they have when they start going to school (2006: 6). In order for students to engage their energies in the action of learning, they have to feel accepted and recognized, a full-fledged member of a group, and part of a community. According to McMillan & Chavis (1986:9), a sense of community means that members have a feeling of belonging, of being important to each other and to the group, and “a shared faith that members’ needs will be met through their commitment to be together”. In order to understand the ideas of future teachers on the importance of a sense of belonging for students, our research involved future teachers in Italy and in Canada. In 2011/2012, our research participants were in their third year of a four year teacher education program, and they participated on a volunteer basis. The data collection involved focus group discussions (Short, 2006) and a questionnaire which was developped on the basis of our analysis of the focus group data. The relational aspects emphasized by the participants in this study are essential for feelings of competence and efficiency. One’s self and one’s capacities must be recognized (Ricoeur, 2005) and put into action (Sen, 1993; Bandura, 1995; Nussbaum, 2006) to ensure the process of developing autonomy and social inclusion, and this is true beyond the context of school, especially in multicultural societies where the causes of ethnic conflict and social inequalities are on the rise. The quality of education “is realized in the degree in which individuals form a group” (Dewey, 1958: 65), and in classrooms, a heterogeneous group of children becomes a community of living and learning through the efforts of the teacher.