The Importance of Celebrating Traditions in Schools and Daycare Centres

April 01, 2021

A study on Finnish lower-secondary schools shows that whole-school celebrations have a positive relation to the students’ sense of belonging at school (1). This sense is built up through positive social and emotional experiences among other aspects. The sense of belonging is not an unimportant aspect in education; even PISA tests measure students’ sense of school belonging (2).

During this COVID-19 pandemic, events such as whole-school celebrations have many benefits (1).  These include the following:

• Improved interaction amongst students and teachers
• Students having positive feelings towards their school community
• Related educational content and learning experiences affecting positively on the student’s wellbeing at school
• Learning agency positively supported through participation

Furthermore, the degree of the students’ sense of belonging is related to several different outcomes as seen below (1).

High level of students’ sense of belonging

• Life satisfaction
• Motivation to learn
• Academic outcomes
• School conduct
• Future orientation

Low level of students’ sense of belonging

• Higher risk of dropping out
• Health problems

The study on the whole-school celebrations encourages for those in the educational field to look more into the content that school celebrations give students in terms of social, emotional, and educational aspects (1).

In our professional development programme, we further discuss children’s self-expression and parental involvement in a practical manner.

If you are interested to learn more about our professional development programme, you can read about it in our services "Professional Development Services" or contact us.

References:

1. Niemi, Pia-Maria, ja Risto Hotulainen. 2015. "Enhancing Students’ Sense of Belonging Through School Celebrations: A Study in Finnish Lower-secondary Schools." International Journal of Research Studies in Education 4 no. 5: 43–58.

2. OECD. 2017. “Students’ sense of belonging at school and their relations with teachers.” Pisa 2015 Results: Students’ Well-being 3: 117–131. Accessed 8 November 2019. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/9789264273856-11-en.pdf?expires=1573210652&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=41E283F911173640EF5AEBF815947D11

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