Growing as an Individual: Community and Self-growth

By Catriona Fraser

“The programme has helped me grow as an individual. It has also helped me interact in a way that [others] see me as a good role model and a great support role.”

– Year 12 student

Oppidan’s Growing as an Individual trilogy entails a series of three articles, of which this is the third, that explore the link between self-growth and community by analysing qualitative data from Oppidan’s programmes, alongside survey data from: a) 1,200 pupils about to begin the peer-mentoring journey, and b) a case study of 70 pupils who have completed the PMTJ programme in Spring Term 2023. Oppidan’s first article explored the importance of community in schools, and outlined concerning trends in pupils’ declining sense of belonging across OECD countries, particularly for marginalised pupils and underserved populations. The article also explored programme data suggesting peer-mentoring helps harness a stronger school community by increasing positive peer interactions. The second article considered those positive interactions in more detail, exploring the importance of listening, empathy, and ‘opening-up’. Further, the article suggested supportive peer dialogue can enable not only a stronger sense of belonging, but also a stronger sense of self: pupils learn about themselves by speaking and listening to others. This final article in the series will consider the curious link between belonging and self-understanding in more detail.  

Figure 6: Pupils' Self-Esteem (above and below cohort average)

The process of self-understanding through relationships speaks to an important and complex connection between community and self-concept. Research suggests this link is bidirectional. An article by Becht et al (2017), for example, suggests that strong relationships encourage pupils to believe the way they present themselves is accepted, resulting in less self-doubt; while a stronger self-clarity concept enables pupils to better engage in positive relationships without becoming dependent or losing their sense of self to others. Oppidan’s data affirms the link between pupils’ sense of self and their sense of belonging to school. We see a strong positive correlation between self-esteem and a sense of school community in both Year 12 and Year 7 pupils (r=0.5). Thus, pupils who take a more positive attitude towards themselves tend to feel as though they belong in school and matter to others (figure 6). Peer-mentoring may therefore increase pupils’ sense of school community both directly by increasing peer-interaction, and indirectly by raising pupils’ self-esteem, which in turn enables them to forge more positive relationships with peers and teachers.

Figure 7: Support from Year 12 to younger pupils

There is also an interesting connection between pupils’ agency and their sense of school community. Research suggests pupils who feel as though they make a difference in school also have a higher sense of belonging (Riley et al 2020). Our data points towards a positive correlation between pupils’ sense of school community and their sense of self-efficacy (r = 0.4). Further, acting as peer mentors likely improves pupils’ sense of community because their leadership role increases their agency. This is suggested in data pointing towards higher levels of school community for pupils who give more support to younger peers in school (figure 7). Pupils’ agentic actions as peer-mentors likely leads to a greater sense of belonging.

This Growing as an Individual Trilogy has explored the concept of a relational self. It has argued pupils develop their sense of self through cohesive school communities containing supportive peer relationships. Oppidan will explore such insights in more detail in our upcoming working group workshop with the academic Helen Demetriou on 27th April, research and teaching associate at Cambridge’s Faculty of Education and advisor to the House of Parliament in non-academic skills.

You can sign up to the working group here.

References 

Becht et al 2017, “Clear Self, Better Relationships: Adolescents’ Self-Concept Clarity and Relationship Quality with Parents and Peers Across 5 Years”, in Child Development.  

Allen et al 2018, “What Schools Need to Know About Fostering Belonging: a Meta-Analysis”. In Educational Psychology Review.

Riley et al 2020, “Place and Belonging in Schools: Why it Matters Today”. The Art of Possibilities & UCL, Institute of Education.  

Riley 2019, “Agency and Belonging: What transformative actions can schools take to help create a sense of place and belonging?”, Journal of Educational & Child Psychology.  

Lamb et al 2021, “How is Virtue Cultivated?: Seven Strategies for Postgraduate Character Development”, in Journal of Character Education.  

Allen et al 2020, “Belonging, Behaviour and Inclusion in Schools: What does Research Tell Us”. The Art of Possibilities & UCL, Institute of Education.  

OFSTED 2022, “Securing Good Attendance and Tackling Persistent Absence”. In Gov.UK < https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/securing-good-attendance-and-tackling-persistent-absence/securing-good-attendance-and-tackling-persistent-absence>