Chapter 3: Breaking barriers Educational excursions fostering first-year student teachers’ sense of belonging

A sense of belonging is a deep and subjective connection with social groups, physical places and individual and collective experiences. It is a fundamental human need that predicts numerous mental, physical, social, economic and behavioural outcomes. According to data from UniversitiesSouth Africa (USAf), 75% of first-year students can be considered first-generation students, who often encounter barriers such as financial restrictions, language, isolation and social and cultural differences. These barriers may increase the likelihood of dropping out and lower retention rates. To mitigate these barriers for first-year students, USAf recommends innovative and student-centred learning spaces. Educational excursions, as presented by the North-West University (NWU), are student-centred and may alleviate some of these barriers for first-year student teachers. This chapter attempts to answer the following research question: How did educational excursions assist in overcoming the barriers preventing a sense of belonging in a diverse group of first-year student teachers? To find answers to this question, a qualitative research design within an interpretive paradigm was employed to report on the experiences of first-year student teachers. Open-ended questionnaires (OEQs) and reflection portfolios (RP) were used as data sources. Social constructivism underpins the research, and the four components of the integrated framework for understanding, assessing and fostering belonging were used as a heuristic to analyse the data. If the four components (competencies for belonging, opportunities to belong, motivations to belong and perceptions of belonging) are met, it creates a space to foster belonging. The data indicate that scaffolding the student-centred educational excursions within the student teachers’ zone of proximal development helped to overcome the barriers, leading to the development of the four components in the framework. Assisting in overcoming these barriers may consequently make student teachers feel more welcome with a sense of belonging as NWU Faculty of Education student teachers.