Rethinking the relation between citizenship and belonging in education through the narratives of school principals

This study aims to expand the understanding of citizenship in education by integrating various dimensions of belonging into the concept of citizenship as it is commonly used in education. To construct this more comprehensive conceptualization of citizenship, capable of engaging with the lived reality of students, teachers, and staff in school but also in broader society, we examined in what ways spatial, relational, and affective dimensions are present in current understandings of citizenship education. Qualitative data were gathered among thirteen principals of eleven secondary schools in Flanders. Findings revealed that principals perceive citizenship both as something that needs to be learned (citizenship-as-outcome) and as something that is practised in everyday school life (citizenship-as-practice). Moreover, the relational and spatial dimension of belonging were both clearly discernible in our data, whereas the affective dimension was often not considered or expanded upon. In the final section we discuss the potential implications of these findings.