| dc.description.abstract | A sense of belonging has been shown as important in supporting young people who access alternative provision (AP) to reintegrate back into a mainstream setting on a full-time basis (Cockerill, 2019; Cullinane, 2020; Lapinksi, 2019). Many pupils who access AP do so on a full time basis, however there are also many pupils who receive provision through a shared placement between the school and alternative provider. The impact of shared placements on young people is underexplored, but some research has shown the negative impact a shared placement can have on young people’s sense of belonging and peer relationships (Cockerill, 2019); this has also been shown in other literature that looks at young people who access APs (Cullinane, 2020; Lapinksi, 2019). Peer relationships form an integral part of a sense of school belonging (Midgen et al., 2019; Nind et al., 2012), however shared placements can make it difficult for young people to interact with their peers face-to-face. Social media (SM) use in young people is widespread (Vogels et al., 2022; Tankovska, 2021, Ofcom, 2022) and offers many affordances for communication which may benefit those on shared placements (Nesi et al., 2018). These affordances include being able to contact people when you are not physically present. SM has also been shown to enhance peer relationships and social connection (Winstone et al., 2021; Hamilton et al., 2022). Despite this, our understanding of how young people on shared placements may use SM is limited. Much of the previous literature on SM and young people has used quantitative approaches (Winstone et al., 2021) and therefore there is limited knowledge around the lived experiences of this group that understand the nuances of how they use SM to remain connected.
This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to explore the reported experiences and perceptions of 11 young people on shared placements, or who had recently returned from a shared placement on how they use SM to remain connected to their peers and what role this has in their sense of belonging. The views of seven SENCOs were also sought to provide a holistic understanding of shared placements and SM and how this is understood from those who oversee shared placements. A constructivist interpretivist approach was adopted and thematic analysis was used to analyse the transcripts.
The findings suggest that for young people, shared placements can have a negative impact on their peer relationships and sense of belonging. The findings also showed how central SM is in the lives of young people and how important it is for their social connection. The participants reported a range of advantages to SM use (e.g. maintaining friends and reducing isolation) whilst also highlighting some of the risks (e.g. increased friendship difficulties and conflict). The findings suggested that SM did support the perceived sense of school belonging young people felt to their mainstream setting and this often made them feel more able to return to their mainstream setting on a full-time basis. However, there were often other factors that were perceived as more important such as the context of the young person, staff relationships and the ability of the school to meet the young person’s needs. The findings also highlighted some of the difficulties faced by schools in supporting young people with SM. The significance of this research was discussed, highlighting contributions to how a sense of school belonging can be conceptualised for young people who use SM on shared placements, how policy makers should consider shared placements and how schools should support young peoples’ SM use. | en_GB |
