Investigating sense of community in primary schools

Abstract

The desire to be a part of a wider social network is a basic human need and research has found that possessing a strong ‘sense of community’ is associated with a range of positive outcomes, both in terms of physical and mental health. In adults and adolescents alike, it has been argued that four factors contribute to an individual’s sense of community, namely; membership, influence, shared emotional connection, and reinforcement of need (McMillan & Chavis, 1986). Given that pupils’ sense of community in primary school has been relatively neglected by the literature, a new measure of the construct was developed for this age group. The impact of pupils’ gender and year group on sense of community was also explored. A focus group with Year 5 and 6 pupils was used to develop the Sense of Community Index-Primary (SCI-P) and following piloting, 452 Year 5 and Year 6 pupils completed the measure in school. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor model of sense of community, which represents a departure from McMillan and Chavis’s (1986) framework. A significant main effect of gender was found, while a year group hypothesis was only partially supported. Practical applications and limitations of this research are also discussed.