The Association Between Student-Teacher Relationship Quality and Students’ School Belonging: A Cross-National Perspective

Students’ sense of school belonging has an enduring influence on academic and psychosocial outcomes during compulsory schooling and after. Prior research suggests that student-teacher relationship (STR) quality is one of the strongest factors to positively predict school belonging. However, the bulk of this research has focused on samples from developed countries, limiting the generalisability of findings to a diverse range of countries. The only cross-national studies to examine this positive link have utilised data from over two decades ago or focused explicitly on European countries. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the generalisability of the positive link between STR quality and school belonging across 69 countries/economic regions using the most recently published (2022) Programme for International Student Assessment dataset. This study expands prior research to investigate the generalisability of results within countries, through comparisons between immigrant groups (i.e., first-generation, second-generation, native-born students). Utilising responses from 521,293, 15-year-old students from 69 countries, this study assessed the positive link between STR quality and belonging via multilevel linear models. Results demonstrated that the positive link between STR quality and belonging generalised across all countries, although the size of this positive link varied across countries. This positive link also generalised across students from immigrant and non-immigrant backgrounds. These findings suggest the positive link between STR quality and belonging may be universal. Therefore, teachers across the globe can assist all students in feeling connected to school by fostering high-quality relationships with students through care and respect.