Belonging is an important element of one's educational experiences. Recognizing the unique and multifaceted identities of students, it is important to consider various ways in which belonging can be fostered in educational settings. This paper employs a critical science perspective to engage in a valued ends/practical means analysis to investigate the potential for Queer theory to facilitate belonging in educational settings. In the analysis of the valued ends for what educational belonging could encompass, imagination is used as the primary method, in tandem with elements of autoethnography. In this process, three major components of education, including 1) school systems, 2) pedagogy, and 3) educator perspectives, emerged as identifiable catalysts for change and possibility. Then, using these components as a framework for what education could be, a practical means assessment explored theoretical and pedagogical practices that could create change and increase a sense of belonging in educational contexts. The valued ends and practical means outlined in this paper provide a starting point for educators to increase belonging in their classrooms and schools, and the practice of a valued ends/practical means analysis has the potential to create profound change when done by classroom teachers with the unique context of the classrooms and communities in which they practice providing rich context for the end and means they explore.
William Wilton (Thu,) studied this question.