Children’s perspectives about belonging in educational settings in five European countries

The study investigates children’s perspectives on belonging in educational environments in five European countries. The researchers investigate how children with different backgrounds experience belonging and which factors are crucial for their sense of belonging in kindergarten and school. The research question is: What do children consider important for belonging in different educational environments?

The data were collected through interviews with children, where each child walked around the kindergarten/school together with a researcher, took pictures of the environment and talked to the researcher. A total of 20 children participated in the study, four children from each of the five countries: Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. In Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, the children went to kindergarten and were between four and six years old. In the Netherlands, children attended primary school and were between six and eight years old. The children were also asked questions such as: What is important to you here in kindergarten/school? What does it mean to feel good here? What would you like to show me? What do you like about kindergarten/school?

The results show that belonging for the children is strongly linked to friendships, being surrounded by caring adults, and being part of the kindergarten and school community. The children expressed that friendship is essential, where a friend is someone they play with both in and outside of kindergarten/school. The relationship with the adults was described as safe and caring, even though the children rarely had the opportunity to make decisions themselves. Belonging was also expressed through personal connection to objects and places in the environment, as well as rules on inclusion and exclusion.

Einarsdottir, J., Juutinen, J., Emilson, A., Ólafsdóttir, S. M., Zachrisen, B., & Meuser, S. (2022). Children’s perspectives about belonging in educational settings in five European countries. European early childhood education research journal, 30(3), 330–343.