Dancing Towards Belonging: The Use of a Dance Intervention for Migrant Pupils

Study Introduction and Rationale

• The research addresses the critical need for schools to promote a sense of belonging and wellbeing among diverse pupils amidst ongoing debates regarding the place of migrants in the UK.
• Research indicates that dance interventions positively influence psychological and physical wellbeing.
• This specific study investigates the influence of a dance intervention on the Sense of Belonging (SOB) of migrant pupils, a fundamental human need linked to positive educational outcomes.
• The United Nations (UN) defines a migrant as ‘someone who changes his or her country of usual residence for a period of at least a year.’ This includes individuals migrating for family formation, employment, and asylum seeking.
• Statistical Data on Migration:
  • Approximately $15\%$ of all global migrants are children and young people.
  • In $2015$, $15\%$ of state-funded secondary school pupils in the UK did not speak English as a first language.
  • Public sentiment (measured by a $2013$ poll) showed that $70\%$ of respondents desired a reduction in immigration to Britain.
• The danger of marginalizing migrant children through perceived ‘otherness’ has been emphasized in previous research (Gaulter and Green $2015$). Schools are identified as primary locations for fostering social cohesion, defined as different backgrounds sharing a SOB and working toward common goals (DCSF $2007$).

The Concept of Sense of Belonging (SOB)

• Definitions and Frameworks:
  • Baumeister and Leary ($1995$) defined SOB as ‘the extent to which individuals feel personally accepted, respected, included and supported by others in their social environment.’
  • Maslow ($1943, 1987$) identifies the need to belong as a basic human social desire to be connected with others and accepted by a group.
  • Baumeister and Leary’s ($1995$) ‘belonging hypothesis’ posits that belonging requires ‘regular social contact with those to whom one feels connected’ rather than simple social contact. They describe it as a ‘pervasive drive to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of lasting, positive and significant interpersonal relationships.’
• SOB in the School Context:
  • Goodenow ($1993$) defines pupil SOB as the extent to which they feel ‘personally accepted, respected, included and supported by others in the school environment.’
  • Prince and Hadwin ($2013$) link SOB to beliefs that school is important, positive relationships with teachers and peers, and school involvement.
  • Kia-Keeting and Ellis ($2007$) found SOB critical for the settlement of young refugees.
  • Gaulter and Green ($2015$) suggest that fostering SOB reduces staff anxiety by removing the perception of migrant children as ‘others’ who require different cultural approaches.
• Policy Drivers:
  • The UK government’s DCSF ($2007$) guidance placed a duty on schools to promote community cohesion through curriculum, equality, and extended services.
  • The Equalities Act of $2010$ mandated that schools provide fair access to education for all students to support community cohesion.

Impacts and Outcomes of SOB

• Educational Links:
  • Chiu et al. ($2012$) view SOB as an emotional aspect of school engagement representing connection to the school.
  • Prince and Hadwin ($2013$) identify links between SOB and student motivation, engagement, academic achievement, and school completion.
  • Osterman ($2000$) found high SOB correlates with perceived competence.
• Mental Health and Wellbeing:
  • Bond and Stinson ($2007$) noted that high SOB in early secondary school predicts fewer mental health problems and better academic results in later teenage years.
  • Georgiades, Boyle, and Fife ($2013$) found a negative association between SOB and emotional or behavioral problems.
• Challenges for Migrants:
  • Migrant pupils often face fewer educational resources at home, language barriers, and poorer social relationships (Chiu et al. $2012$).
  • Despite having positive attitudes toward school, first-generation migrants often report lower SOB.
  • Biggart, O’Hare, and Connolly ($2013$) found that EU migrant children scored significantly lower in SOB, self-perception, and club participation compared to native peers.

The Role of Dance in Wellbeing and Social Integration

• Physical and Mental Health:
  • Research supports dance for improving physical health and mental satisfaction, such as decreasing mental dissatisfaction (Jeong et al. $2005$) and improving self-esteem in $14$-year-old females (Connolly, Quin, and Redding $2011$).
  • Robertson-Wilson, Reinders, and Bryden ($2016$) found that ethnic minorities, girls, and older adolescents typically have lower physical activity levels, justifying dance as a means to increase activity.
• Community and Inclusion:
  • Dance has been used to reach marginalized communities (Dinold and Zitomer $2015$; Anwar-McHnery et al. $2017$).
  • In Australia, arts and dance programs showing promising results for young refugees (Sonn, Grossman, and Utomo $2013$) provided a rationale for the current study.
  • Dance allows for enhanced critical thinking skills (Stinson $1997$; Giguere $2011$) and improved quality of life via community building (Malkogeorgos et al. $2011$).

Research Methodology

• Objective: Explore how a school-based dance program influences migrant pupils’ SOB.
• Research Team:
  • One Educational Psychologist with expertise in qualitative research and migrant experiences.
  • One Lecturer from the Royal Academy of Dance with expertise in dance education and intervention research.
• Setting and Context:
  • A secondary school in South East England in a socially deprived area ($50\%$ of pupils eligible for pupil premium).
  • Migration context: Residents born outside the UK grew from $6.2\%$ ($2001$) to $11\%$ ($2011$).
  • School context: Pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL) doubled from $5.5\%$ to $9.5\%$ between $2011$ and $2014$.
• Participants:
  • $13$ female migrant pupils aged between $11$ and $15$ who had moved to the UK within the past three years.
  • Convenience sampling was used; one British-born pupil consented but was excluded from the final analysis to preserve statistical relevance.
• The Intervention:
  • Six $60$-minute weekly sessions focusing on Hip Hop, a genre selected collaboratively by the students.
  • Teaching Style: Included cued response (copying) by Gibbons ($2007$), moving toward pupil-led creation.
  • Scaffolding: Based on Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development ($1978$), supporting student learning step-by-step.
  • Collaborative group tasks (creating poses, choreographic pairs) were used to foster ownership and sharing.

Data Collection and Analysis

• Qualitative Design: Focused on in-depth understanding of individuals in a natural setting (Creswell $2014$).
• Methods:
  • Semi-Structured Focus Groups: Groups of no more than $6$ students. Utilized photo-elicitation (showing photos of sessions), drawings, music from the classes, and native language translation.
  • Professional Interviews: Conducted with staff overseeing the research and the staff member responsible for EAL students.
  • Researcher Field Diaries and Observations: Used for cross-referencing and data strengthening.
• Analysis:
  • Open and Axial Coding: Open codes for new important information; axial codes for grouping similar meanings.
  • Software: MAXQDA was used for data extrapolation, trend identification, and color-coded organization in spreadsheets.

Key Study Findings

• The Overarching Theme: Enjoyment
  • Enjoyment is considered a ‘critical factor’ for positive outlooks on education (Lorusso et al. $2013$). Staff and pupils reported high levels of happiness and excitement.
• Finding 1: Connecting with Others
  • Definition: The desire to form social bonds for survival and reproduction (Baumeister and Leary $1995$).
  • Pupils reported meeting new people and sustaining these friendships on their journeys home and during lunch breaks. Staff noticed friendships crossing ethnic/national lines (e.g., Romanian, Slovakian).
• Finding 2: Feeling Safe to Build Confidence
  • Staff observed pupils physically relaxing and ‘coming out of their shells.’ Shyness was overcome as pupils felt ‘comfortable’ and less worried about judgment, leading to positive persona changes in school corridors.
• Finding 3: Engagement
  • Defined by Kuhn et al. ($2007$) as ‘participation in educationally effective practices… leading to a range of measurable outcomes.’
  • Vigour: Defined by Cadime et al. ($2016$) as ‘high levels of energy and resilience.’ Pupils displayed effort, stretched their bodies, and learned from mistakes (laughing at errors).
  • Dedication: Pupils practiced at home, taught family members (cousins/mums), and showed autonomy by remembering session times independently. Staff noted this was unusual compared to other school clubs.

Discussion and Research Limitations

• Significance: Dance serves as a ‘common language’ that improves SOB through shared physical experiences. It enhances perceived competence, which is linked to SOB by Prince and Hadwin ($2013$).
• Peer Acceptance: Findings align with Zitomer ($2016$), reporting feelings of acceptance and social interaction through collaborative activity.
• Teacher Standards: The sessions fulfilled the Department for Education (DfE $2012$) requirement to establish safe, stimulating environments rooted in respect.
• Limitations:
  • Population: Participants were exclusively female and migrant; lack of male pupils or British-born children for comparison.
  • Scope: The study did not measure whether engagement influenced broader school life interactions.
  • Legacy: The six-week duration lacked staff training/development, meaning the intervention’s impact might not persist without the research team.