Social cohesion in schools: A non-systematic review of its conceptualization and instruments

Abstract

Social cohesion in schools refers to positive interpersonal relations between students, a sense of belonging of all students and group solidarity. Social cohesion is a multidimensional construct, and educators policymakers and researchers may focus on specific domains within this concept, guided by their personal conception of social cohesion. With this non-systematic review we provide examples of how social cohesion is conceptualized and measured in various ways by those who study social cohesion in education and how these measures relate to the multidimensional construct of social cohesion. Seven components of three social cohesion dimensions are considered. This review presents an overview of five social cohesion instruments and shows that these instruments include specific combinations of dimensions, components, perspectives and social entities at which they are targeted. Based on these examples of the measurement of social cohesion in education, this study provides a heuristic for considerate use of instruments to measure social cohesion.

Keywords

• social cohesion
• instruments
• education
• school belonging
• citizenship education
• school climate