Led by researcher Ebony Melzak, a PhD candidate at Monash University, the ‘global scan’ of 15 countries identified 41 factors that contribute to early career teachers’ (ECTs) sense of acceptance and involvement in their schools.
With fragmented and/or overly specific research on this area to date, Melzak says the concept of teacher belonging has been largely overlooked in discussions about the workforce attrition crisis.
And given teacher burnout and attrition present intense challenges for education systems across the world, with up to 50 per cent of early career teachers leaving the profession within their first five years on the job, the researcher is now calling on schools to take close note of the findings.
“When I first started exploring teacher belonging, I was actually shocked by how little (research) was out there,” Melzak tells EducationHQ.
“I think a lot of focus has been placed on students’ sense of belonging, and we’ve seen amazing outcomes from that in terms of academic achievement, but also their psychological wellbeing….
“So, I was really surprised that there was a lack of research on teacher belonging, especially considering there’s been other research on workplace belonging more generally, which has had really promising findings.”
One finding to emerge from the data really stood out for Melzak: while quality relationships with students are important, solid collegial relationships are far more vital for early career teachers when it comes to cultivating a sense of belonging.
“[That] really came out as being critical to develop that sense of camaraderie and a supportive school culture.”
Informal conversations with colleagues that depart from more formal chats about teaching, as well as social activities, were found to be essential ingredients for teachers starting out in schools.
Chats that allowed jokes, gossip, or sharing information about one’s personal life to flow were especially beneficial on this front.
Strong relationships with school leadership were also essential for early career teachers, the research suggests, with principals ‘key’ in establishing an inviting environment that encourages teachers to connect with each other.
“Administrators can also play a role, with [one 2020 study] finding that ECTs feel a sense of belonging when their decisions are ‘backed-up’ and supported by administration staff,” the research flags.
“For example, one participant from their study [noted], ‘I feel supported. I think everything I’ve done so far has been supported … even just backing me up when I send in a referral, or I sent a student down and it’s taken care of. I feel OK with everything’.”
Lead researcher Ebony Melzaks says imposter syndrome can get "quite severe" for early career teachers.
Having just one or two close colleagues or mentors was not sufficient to build a sense of belonging, the study clarified. Rather, a broader sense of community within the school is needed.
“Breaking this down further, a culture that has been described as ‘calm’, ‘protective’, and feels like a ‘family atmosphere’ leads to staff describing feeling welcomed and valued,” the study notes.
Imposter syndrome can present a huge barrier to ECTs developing a sense of belonging in those early years in the classroom, Melzak indicates.
An insidious feeling of inadequacy and crippling self-doubt can hit ECTs hard.
‘[It’s] feeling like you don’t really belong in that particular setting and that, yes, you might walk in with the education degree and you’ve got the title of a teacher, but you don’t feel adequate enough to almost have that,” Melzak explains.
“And that can stem from just feeling like you’re not sure what you’re doing in this particular space.”
And while university might prepare ECTs in terms of their subject knowledge and pedagogy, it’s the application and the diverse school contexts they can be thrust into that can easily trigger imposter syndrome, the researcher adds.
“So, when they’re going up to other staff saying, ‘I’m sorry, how do I use the printer here?’
“Or ‘how do you run your assemblies’? Little things like that end up making them feel like, ‘oh, am I really a teacher? Do I really sort of belong here?’
“And that imposter syndrome can get quite severe.”
Melzak’s advice for school leaders on this front is to prioritise inductions and quality mentoring experiences for incoming teachers.
[These are about helping] teachers understand how they can be a teacher in [a] specific school setting in the school community.
“So that they feel like, ‘OK … now I know how the school runs. And I can apply [my knowledge and skills] to create that teacher identity and that sense of, ‘OK, I am a teacher in this space’.”
Leadership should avoid shutting out ECTs from important decision making within their school, the researcher adds.
“I think a lot of … more experienced teachers think, ‘let them settle, let them get used to the school and used to the profession, and then later on we can involve them’.
“But that actually is a bit more detrimental because it means early career teachers feel left out, and they feel that they’re not valued.
“Whereas if we flip that and we say, ‘hang on, you’ve got really innovative ideas, you are an asset to the school, let’s include you’, that was found to be really, really important for their sense of belonging.”
The research found participants across multiple studies described a desire to give something back to their colleagues rather than simply receiving support, and that contributing in a meaningful way led to a sense of assumed competence, autonomy and ownership.
Monash University Associate Professor Kelly-Ann Allen says the findings could also translate into ITE programs.
“We need to embed these messages and strategies from the ground up so that new teachers entering the profession receive a strong message that they are valued and respected from day one,” Allen urges.
“This research is a great opportunity to contribute to a more positive conversation about teaching.
“It’s time we flipped the narrative and returned to the reasons so many people choose to become teachers in the first place.”
For Melzak, this doesn’t necessarily mean that universities should introduce a new unit on teaching belonging, but raising awareness of it and the practical ways in which ECTs can foster it from day one is the way forward.
“It’s just about opening up those conversations so that early career teachers go, ‘yeah, maybe I will join the run club that happens’, or ‘I will put my hand up to do some collaborative work at school, because I know that’s going to be really important for my integration into the school community, so that I can start to form those relationships with other staff’…”
Being visible about the school early on can pay dividends, Melzak emphasises.
[It’s so] people start to go, ‘oh yeah, that’s Mrs Smith, and she teaches English’.
“You just start to create a bit of a name for yourself.”
