Critical constellations: Thinking about belonging from practitioner perspectives

Abstract

This article takes the form of a conceptual account of belonging through reflection, theory, and suggestions for practice. It engages with philosophical, political, and sociological accounts of belonging, looking at how language has been used to denote experiences of belonging, and what these expressions might convey for educators and their learners. It suggests that, given the current drive to encourage and celebrate belonging in education, careful attention needs to be given to the operationalisation of belonging into discourses which are homogenised and strategic. The metaphor of a constellation of practices to envisage the different ways in which people might belong and not-belong to a university is offered as an alternative mode of thinking. For foundation year practitioners - people who value working in less traditional, often othered, learning spaces within larger institutions - more imaginative considerations of belonging are presented as being tactically significant for our learners, and for ourselves.