Individual and Contextual Factors Determining School Belonging of Adolescents in the UK: Evidence from PISA

School Mental Health https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-024-09725-y ORIGINAL PAPER Individual and Contextual Factors Determining School Belonging of Adolescents in the UK: Evidence from PISA Olympia Palikara1 · Arielle Bonneville‑Roussy2 · Kelly‑Ann Allen3,4 Accepted: 15 October 2024 © The Author(s) 2025 Abstract There has been long discussion in educational psychology about the individual factors that promote pupils’ sense of school belonging during secondary education. However, the literature on the school factors associated with these outcomes seems to be less informed. By utilising an ecological-systemic approach, the present study aimed to consider the predictive role of a range of individual and school factors including academic achievement, motivation, gender, class size, extracurricular resources, and type of school attended. To do this, UK data of a large, current and representative sample of 14,157 15-yearold pupils in 550 schools from the Programme for the International Student Assessment (PISA) study were analysed. Using a multi-level structural equation modelling framework, results indicated that the individual-level factors statistically significant associated with pupils’ sense of belonging were academic motivation, gender, and socio-economic status, explaining 6% of the student-level variance. School factors that predicted sense of school belonging included availability of extracurricular activities, and class size, explaining 39% of the school-level variance. Our results provide strong evidence concerning the importance of school factors that may be more malleable to change, when compared to individual factors, in determining pupils’ sense of belonging. We propose a theoretical framework that integrates the role of individual and school factors to advance knowledge concerning pathways for the development of evidence-based intervention targeting the improvement of school belonging. Keywords School belonging · PISA data · School factors · Student factors · Ecological-systemic approach Introduction In recent years, the role of school belonging (SB) as a determinant of pupils’ well-being has been targeted as a potential source for relevant intervention programmes (Allen et al., * Arielle Bonneville‑Roussy * Kelly‑Ann Allen Olympia Palikara 1 Department of Education Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK 2 Université du Québec À Montréal, Montreal, Canada 3 School of Educational Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, Australia 4 Centre for Wellbeing Science, Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia 2022a, b; Cortina et al., 2017; Fredericks et al., 2004). This is because high levels of SB have been associated with better psychological adjustment (Allen et al., 2018a, 2022a, b; Gutman et al., 2002; Lerner et al., 2005), more positive self-perceptions (Li & Lerner, 2011) and long-term developmenta and psychosocial outcomes (Arslan et al., 2020; Barsarkod et al., 2024; Jose et al., 2012). Research has highlighted the predictive role of several individual factors, including academic achievement, motivation, and gender in SB development (Allen et al., 2023; Allen, Fortune, & Arslan, 2021a, b, c; Anderman, 2003; Barsarkod et al., 2024; Juvonen, 2006). A common definition (and the one used for the purposes of this study) for SB is that used by Goodenow and Grady (1993, p. 61), who defined SB as “the extent to which students feel personally accepted, respected, included, and supported by others in the school social environment.” Considerable research has been invested into SB since Goodenow and Grady proposed that definition; however, most research on SB typically focuses on individual factors with the wider school context and practical implications for schools omitted Vol.:(0123456789) School Mental Health (Arslan et al., 2020; Hernández et al., 2017; Korpershoek et al., 2020; Li et al., 2020). As such, less attention has been paid to the examination of contextual school factors in SB, such as extracurricular activities, class size, and type of school attended—public vs. private. A meta-analysis (Allen et al., 2018a, b) of 51 studies that examined the predictors of SB found that results were scarce regarding the effects of the contextual factors in explaining pupils’ SB. This research found that individual factors such as gender (weakly) and motivation (more strongly), played a role in SB, but results were inconclusive regarding the effects of school-level variables, such as extracurricular activities. Knowing what features of the school context determine pupils’ SB is crucial to plan adequate policy and school-level interventions, as some of these factors may be more easily subject to change as compared to interventions at the individual level (Allen, Gray, et al., 2021c; Allen & Kern, 2017, 2019). From a theoretical perspective, the identification of school factors that determine SB is essential, as most of the existing frameworks tend to conceptualise SB as an internal characteristic of the pupil and fail to acknowledge the importance of school factors (Allen et al., 2016; Wallace et al., 2012). In addition, although some earlier research highlighted that SB should be examined in pupils within their school contexts (Goodenow, 1993), there is still a dearth of information about the individual and contextual factors that determine pupils’ sense of belonging (Shochet et al., 2011). If contextual associations are found, these could provide essential information to further research in the area and build an evidence base for interventions. Using an ecological-systemic approach (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), the present study examines the role of individual and contextual factors in determining pupils’ SB in the UK. Past research has demonstrated that socio-ecological models are a sound and feasible way to examine SB (Allen et al., 2023; Allen, Fortune, & Arslan, 2021a, b, c). For the present study, two objectives were pursued. First, we aimed to propose a theoretical framework that integrates individual and contextual factors associated with pupils’ SB. We also aimed to advance knowledge by identifying school factors that could be more malleable and subject to change, as compared to individual factors, in order to showcase pathways for the development of interventions that would specifically target pupils’ SB within their school contexts. Therefore, this study specifically considers the predictive roles of academic achievement, academic expectations, motivation, gender, immigrant status as individual factors, and those of class size, extracurricular activities, type of school attended— state vs. private -, number of certified teachers in school, and staff shortage as contextual factors in pupils’ sense of SB. These factors were chosen because of their empirical or theoretical links to SB (Allen et al., 2018a, b; Korpershoek et al., 2020). However, no research to date has exa (...truncated)