Equity, Diversity and Inclusion:
A Faculty Toolkit

Yuri A | Shutterstock

Part II.
Belonging

The Connection between Sense of Belonging and Learner Success

A sense of belonging includes:

  • social supports on campus
  • feeling connected to campus, classrooms, instructors and fellow students
  • seeing their identities reflected in course material

Belonging is interconnected with:

  • academic achievement
  • retention,
  • persistence to graduate
A black man helping a woman in a a head scarf with a computer

Humber College

Diverse set of Humber graduates in gowns looking toward a stage

Humber College

College Students and Belonging
(Strayhorn, 2019)

Belonging is available to some and denied to others.

Belonging is shaped by pedagogy and curricula in terms of whose voices are heard and supported versus those whose are absent or excluded.

Social identities converge and influence whether students have a sense of belonging in school.

People march in the 2011 Toronto Pride parade

Kitty Rainbow | Wikimedia Commons

Diverse set of students walking together on a college

Humber College