A need to belong? The prevalence of experiences of belonging and exclusion in school among minority ethnic children living in the ‘White hinterlands’

Abstract

Based on a survey of 711 children in Northern Ireland, this paper explores a range of aspects of experiences of belonging and exclusion in relation to school among three main minority ethnic groups: Irish Traveller, Chinese/Asian and European Migrant children. The study examines variations between each group and how they compare to the White settled population. The findings indicate that all three groups experience lower levels of belonging and higher levels of exclusion compared to their White, settled Northern Irish peers. The experiences of Irish Traveller children were the most negative. The article adds to the dearth of data on minority ethnic children living in mainly white regions in the UK and Ireland. It argues for the need to move beyond achievement gaps in assessing minority ethnic children's differential experiences in education and highlights the potential of belongingness as a concept for the further study of differential patterns of need and processes of inclusion.

Keywords:

• ethnicity
• belonging
• exclusion
• Traveller
• Chinese
• migrant

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the members of the Children's Services Planning Working Group on the Rights and Needs of Black and Minority Ethnic Children and Young People for their advice and the different forms of support that individual members provided to the research team as well as the principals and pupils of the schools who participated in the research. The authors would also like to thank two anonymous referees whose comments helped to improve the focus and clarity of the paper. Finally the authors would like to thank The Atlantic Philanthropies who provided the funding for the broader initiative on which the research was based.

Notes

1. The Alpha values were: School Belonging (0.80); Kidscreen (0.72); Hater's Self-Perceptions (0.76); Olweus Bullying Scale (0.87).

2. The effect size is simply the standardised mean difference between the two groups: Effect Size=(Mean Group1–Mean Group 2)/[(Standard Deviation Group 1 + Standard Deviation Group2)/2].

3. Interpreters were also provided to assist children to complete the questionnaire where schools indicated literacy barriers may be an issue.

4. Cohen (1969) suggested as a general guide an effect size of 0.2 could be considered small, 0.5 medium and 0.8 large.