Augmented Reality

Re-creating Schools as Places of Belonging: The Art of Possibilities

In a global context of change and uncertainty, Kathryn Riley builds on her pioneering concept of Leadership of Place to pose fundamental challenges to the beliefs, thinking and professional practice of educators and leaders and to ask: How can we create schools that are places of belonging and possibility?
KS1 Class

Global Realities

Taking stock 

We live in a world of rage and ‘untruth’ - a world on the move.  Half the world’s refugees are children (UNHCR, 2015). Social divisions are widening (Putnam, 2015). Yet it’s an exciting world - of boundless opportunities and possibilities.  And it’s also a world in which we all want to feel that we belong. ‘Belonging’ is that sense of being somewhere where you can be confident that you will fit in and safe in your identity.  Schools are one of the few shared social institutions which can create that sense of belonging or exclusion.  

Over recent years, I have explored the importance of place and belonging: what this means to each of us personally and to schools, particularly those serving diverse communities facing major socio-economic challenges, or high levels of need.  In the book Leadership of Place, I explored the lives and experiences of young people growing up in disadvantaged communities in the US, UK and South Africa (Riley, 2013).  I asked the hundred or so young people who contributed to that research inquiry to respond through their drawings to two key questions: ‘What’s it like living round here?’ and ‘What’s it like being in this school?’  Those illustrations showed many stark and competing realities: areas which were safe and welcoming and others which were ‘no go’ areas, as illustration 1 demonstrates. 

Illustration 1
Illustration 1: My Life - Inside and outside School

This pattern was replicated in later research in Jamaica and also in Chile (Riley, Montecinos  and Ahumada  (2016). Across all the countries I have worked in, the responses of the young people reveal the challenges and realities of everyday life - as well as their hopes and dreams – and the importance of school to them, as is shown in illustration 2.

Illustration 2
Illustration 2: I love my school

Leadership of Place also identified a cohort of ‘place leaders’ who sought to understand young peoples’ lives and experiences and connect to the wider archipelago of surrounding communities. The potential of school leaders to make a difference was inspiring.  It sprang from a sense of hope, a sense of possibilities - a belief on their part that things could and should be different – and a recognition of the importance of place and belonging. 

<--- The article continues for users subscribed and signed in. --->

Enjoy unlimited digital access to Teaching Times.
Subscribe for £7 per month to read this and any other article
  • Single user
  • Access to all topics
  • Access to all knowledge banks
  • Access to all articles and blogs
Subscribe for the year for £70 and get 2 months free
  • Single user
  • Access to all topics
  • Access to all knowledge banks
  • Access to all articles and blogs