ABSTRACT

To improve sub-standard retention and 4-year graduation rates, colleges and universities have tried to foster in students more social connections and a greater sense of belonging to the institution. Repeated positive interactions with faculty members are crucial for helping students develop this sense of belonging. Classroom-level belonging specifically is associated with increased self-efficacy and academic motivation compared to campus-level belonging. Additionally, a sense of belonging may support student success by reducing psychological distress and the risk of mental health problems. However, research about how to foster classroom-level belonging has been relatively scarce despite the demonstrated importance of this construct. To address this gap, we asked psychology and education college students to evaluate a course using the Teacher Behaviour Checklist (TBC), the Classroom Community Scale, and the Classroom Climate Scale in an online survey. We found that caring and supportive teacher behaviour (a TBC factor) predicted 1) a community of connectedness and 2) a climate of high instructor organisation and support, professional competency and communication (a TBC factor) predicted 3) a stronger community of learning and 4) a climate of higher academic expectations. Exploratory analyses also revealed that caring and supportive teacher behaviour predicted higher learning and academic expectations; professional competency and communication predicted higher connectedness and instructor organisation and support. It appears that high-impact teaching practices, in general, improve classroom belonging. Our results echo others, highlighting the importance of caring and professional competence to classroom-level belonging in higher education. Implications for student success and faculty development initiatives are also discussed.

摘要

为了提高不达标的保留率和 4 年毕业率，高校试图在学生中培养更多的社会联系和对机构的更大归属感。与教职员工的反复积极互动对于帮助学生培养这种归属感至关重要。与校园级别的归属感相比，课堂级别的归属感与自我效能感和学术动机的增加有关。此外，归属感可以通过减少心理困扰和心理健康问题的风险来支持学生的成功。然而，尽管这种结构已被证明很重要，但关于如何培养课堂归属感的研究相对较少。为了解决这个差距，我们要求心理学和教育学院的学生在一项在线调查中使用教师行为检查表 (TBC)、课堂社区量表和课堂气候量表来评估一门课程。我们发现，关心和支持教师的行为（一个 TBC 因素）预测 1）一个连通性社区和 2）高教师组织和支持的氛围、专业能力和沟通（一个 TBC 因素）预测 3）一个更强大的学习社区和4) 更高学术期望的氛围。探索性分析还显示，关心和支持教师的行为预示着更高的学习和学业期望；专业能力和沟通预示着更高的连通性和教师的组织和支持。总体而言，高影响力的教学实践似乎 提高课堂归属感。我们的结果与其他人相呼应，强调了关爱和专业能力对高等教育课堂归属感的重要性。还讨论了对学生成功和教师发展计划的影响。