Building social connectedness in schools: Australian teachers’ perspectives

• We describe Australian teachers’ perspectives of building social connectedness.
• At all schools, school-wide practices to connect students to others were in place.
• More could be done if teachers were supported and given time and resources.
• Teachers support more professional development and opportunities to collaborate.

This paper presents the findings of Phase 1 of a larger study examining social connectedness in schools.A semi-structured interview was conducted with 14 teachers to ascertain perceptions of social connectedness across three high schools in a city in Queensland, Australia. The interview examined how teachers perceived four broad strategy levels for building social connectedness: (i) at a school level; (ii) linking to the broader community; (iii) at a classroom level; and (iv) helping individuals to connect.All schools employed school-wide practices to involve the community in the education process, recognizing the importance of cultural and background knowledge, civic participation, and school–community interactions. The three areas identified to improve connectedness within the school communities were to recognize and embrace the important role of technology for community building, to allow time within the curriculum for teachers to work on the social and emotional well-being of their students, and to reinforce efforts to develop a shared language for staff around pedagogical practices.Teachers gave strong support to the need for ongoing professional learning, peer collaboration, and administrative support, and sufficient quality time to achieve these outcomes.