By the numbers: school boosts sense of community

Young people put going to school in their top three factors of things that help them feel like they belong to their community
17th February 2017, 12:00am
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By the numbers: school boosts sense of community

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archived/numbers-school-boosts-sense-community

The most important factors in helping young people feel that they belong to their local community are going to school, their friends and family, according to a new survey.

The findings, published last week by the Varkey Foundation, show that 21 per cent of young people around the world think that school has the biggest role in increasing their sense of belonging to local community. But family (30 per cent) and friends (23 per cent) were viewed as even more important.

The survey recorded the answers of more than 20,000 young people aged between 15 and 21 - individuals born around the turn of the millennium and dubbed “Generation Z”.

With a little help from your friends

Respondents were asked which factor - family, friends, government, place of worship, school or social places - had the most power to increase their sense of belonging to their community.

In the UK, 18 per cent of 15- to 21-year-olds said that school was the main factor that increased their sense of belonging - three percentage points below the global average.

In Japan and South Korea, 35 and 31 per cent of young people respectively said that their school was the most important factor in helping them feel that they belonged to their community.

But the figure was just 13 per cent in China and Germany, where family and friends, respectively, were seen as more important than school when it came to community.


@willmartie

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