ERIC Number: EJ853278
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0965-4283
EISSN: N/A
Promoting Connectedness through Whole-School Approaches: A Qualitative Study
Rowe, Fiona; Stewart, Donald
Health Education, v109 n5 p396-413 2009
Purpose: School connectedness, or a sense of belonging to the school environment, is an established protective factor for child and adolescent health, education, and social well-being. While a comprehensive, whole-school approach that addresses the school organisational environment is increasingly endorsed as an effective approach to promote connectedness, how this approach creates a sense of belonging in the school environment requires systematic in-depth exploration. This paper aims to address these issues Design/methodology/approach: This study examines the influence on school connectedness of a whole-school approach to promote health in school, using a qualitative case study method. Three school communities in Southeast Queensland, Australia, are investigated as case studies in order to formulate a theoretical model of how health promotion approaches can build school connectedness. Findings: This study finds that a health promotion approach builds school connectedness by encouraging a "whole-school" orientation designed to foster interaction among members of the entire school community. Specific activities that promote interaction are school-wide activities involving the entire school community and, at the classroom level, "whole-class" activities in which students and staff work together on activities that create links between the two groups, such as collaborative curriculum planning. The "whole-school" emphasis on partnerships between staff and students and parents is also important, particularly with its focus on initiating and sustaining school-community partnerships. Originality/value: The findings are important, since they validate a whole-school approach to building school connectedness and address an important gap in the literature about how to promote school connectedness and thereby protect the well-being of children and adolescents. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)
Descriptors: Curriculum Development, Health Promotion, School Community Relationship, Foreign Countries, Educational Environment, Qualitative Research, Student School Relationship, Case Studies, Cooperation, Teacher Student Relationship, Student Adjustment, Well Being, Parent School Relationship
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A