School connectedness (SC) has established itself over the past two decades as an important concept in prevention research around adolescent risk behaviour, first gaining a conceptual profile in the 1990s when Resnick and colleagues named it as a protective factor for a range of health-compromising behaviours. Since these studies SC has continued to generate research interest in the fields of education and health, further consolidating its place as a protective factor for young people by decreasing the likelihood of certain health risk behaviours such as suicidal ideation, violence, substance abuse and early sexual debut.

This mixed methods study explored the meanings of being connected to school, how this process was understood by students and staff and shaped by school and individual factors. This approach foregrounded the voices of young people and teachers and their understandings of the experience of connecting to school.  Such an approach is unusual in SC research which continues to be dominated by quantitative, survey-driven studies. 

Using a qualitatively driven mixed methods approach within a social constructionist epistemology this study was framed by two research questions:

1. What are the meanings of being connected to school?

a)     How do students understand their connectedness to school (what makes school a place they want tobe)?

b)    How do teachers and other staff understand students’ connectedness to school?

1. What factors are associated with students’ connectedness to school?

Five hypotheses regarding factors associated with SC were also tested. Three hypotheses related to a student’s knowledge of their school prior to commencing their attendance and whether this knowledge or greater familiarity with the school influenced SC.  A third hypothesis related to a student’s involvement in the decision to attend the school and whether making the choice themselves or in collaboration with their parents influenced SC.  A fourth hypothesis concerned whether starting secondary school with peers from primary school reduced the relational discontinuity that can accompany the transition to secondary school (Coffey, 2013).  The final hypothesis related to whether the distance a student lives from school influences SC. 

This mixed methods study utilising qualitative and quantitative data collection methods within a concurrent triangulation design (Cresswell, et al., 2003) was conducted at a co-educational secondary college in Melbourne, Australia. Data collection methods included a student questionnaire, student and staff focus groups and student diaries. The student questionnaire drew on comprehensive SC research and consisted of 109 items in eight sections, containing 64 single response items, 23 multiple response items, and 21 open questions. The questionnaire also contained a visual analogue scale (VAS), asking students to indicate their level of connectedness on a horizontal line with the anchor points being ‘not connected at all’ and ‘very connected’. The questionnaire was completed by 206 students and 12 student focus groups and 11 staff focus were conducted. Twelve students kept dairies over a three-week period. There were 336 student participants drawn from each year level and 71 staff participants representing the different faculties and administrative and leadership roles in the school. Questionnaire data were examined using both descriptive and inferential statistical analyses. SC provided the dependent variable in the study and was derived from two sources. Each participant’s connectedness response on the VAS was converted into a rating from Very Low (0-2) to Very High (9-10) and this rating was cross-tabulated against the independent variables in the questionnaire to identify significant associations. SC was also derived by summing up the scores attributed by the participants to five questions in the questionnaire based on the School Connectedness Scale (Resnick et al., 1997) The qualitative data, drawn from open items in the questionnaire, focus groups, and diaries were thematically analysed in accordance with the six steps identified by (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Both qualitative and quantitative data sets were analysed separately and results from each set were integrated during the analysis phase to identify areas of convergence or divergence (Terrell, 2012). The questions that guided this study were both exploratory and confirmatory and the questionnaire was designed to serve both purposes. The inclusion of the VAS provided a means for students to identify their level of connectedness to school and this then provided the dependent variable against which a range of key independent variables as identified in the research on SC could be assessed. The instrument yielded qualitative data through the inclusion of open questions, inviting participants to provide extended responses to questions regarding their views about Woodlands College.

SC emerged from this study as a multi-dimensional, socio-ecological concept, placing the individual in relationship with others within the school and beyond. Three hypothesised associations between SC were supported: collaborative decision making with parents about selection of school, prior knowledge of school and proximity of residence to the school. Findings indicated that students understood their connectedness to school through the experiences of a dynamic and complex crosshatching of opportunities within relational, learning and extracurricular spheres of school life. Their understandings consolidated the importance of student-teacher relationships and extracurricular participation, elevated the importance of peer relationships, and established the role of institutional relationships and school as a place of community as key elements. The practice implications from this study pivot around the relational climate of schools. This study provided a view of young people with eroded SC. School for them provided less access to adult support, less relational connection to teachers, less engaging teaching, and less enjoyment in being at school. They felt less well, perhaps unsurprisingly. Most of these factors are within the sphere of school influence, with the possible exception of health status, but even on this account schools can be active players in establishing home-school partnerships and in the provision of robust health and wellbeing practice frameworks (Michael, Merlo, Basch, Wentzel, & Wechsler, 2015; Scottish Health Promoting Schools Unit, 2004). The pathway to building SC for all young students is through the relationships which underpin the educational enterprise of schools. According to this study, SC will flourish in schools with opportunity-rich environments with relationally inclusive, supportive and respectful climates which offer a niche for all young people.

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