Relationship between Students&Apos; Sense of School Belonging with Principals&Apos; Perceptions of School Discipline, and Teachers&Apos; Perceptions of School safety in TIMSS 2019

Abstract

This research is a predictive correlational study aimed at examining the relationship between students' sense of school belonging, principals' perceptions of school discipline, and teachers' perceptions of school safety. In this research, Turkiye data of the fifth and eighth-grade students in TIMSS 2019 used. The study included 3991 fifth-grade students from 180 different schools and 4077 eight grade students from 181 schools. This study used HLM analysis to determine whether students' school belonging could be predicted by teachers' perceptions of school safety and principals' perceptions of school discipline using nested, hierarchical data. The first hypothesis of the study aims to examine whether students' school belonging differs within and among schools. According to the results of the study, the school belonging of fifth and eighth grade students differs among schools. The second hypothesis analyzed whether science and mathematics teachers' perceptions of school safety predicted student belonging levels. In the study, it was inferred that only eighth grade science teachers' perceptions of school safety significantly predicted their students' belonging levels. The third hypothesis analyzed whether principals' perceptions of school discipline predicted student belonging levels. It was observed that principals' perceptions of school discipline did not predict the belonging levels of students. In the last hypothesis of the study, it was examined whether science and mathematics teachers' perceptions of school safety and principals' perceptions of school discipline together predicted students' level of belonging to school. It was detected that science and mathematics teachers' perceptions of school safety and principals' perceptions of school discipline together did not predict students' level of belonging to school.