Key points

Newly arrived immigrant students described belonging as feeling noticed, supported, and guided by teachers.

Teacher actions that may help include early social activities and rotating groups.

Students often value activities like football training and music clubs because these offer friendship.

As a researcher who studies belonging, I was delighted to meet Charlotte Helen Haaland Hancock in Norway recently and serve as an examiner for her Ph.D. defence. Her doctoral research tracks how newly arrived immigrant students in Norwegian upper secondary schools experience belonging, engagement, and inclusion, and how teachers can support them. This work sits in a context of growing cultural diversity in schools, with about 1 in 5 Norwegian students now from immigrant backgrounds, a

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