Cognitive activation and school belonging: the mediating roles of emotional security and social inclusion in East Asia

Introduction This study examined how cognitively activating instruction is associated with students’ sense of school belonging through the psychological mechanisms of emotional security and social inclusion in East Asian educational contexts. Methods Using PISA 2018 data from 40,330 students across six East Asian education systems, we estimated a parallel mediation model within a structural equation modeling framework while accounting for sampling weights and school-level clustering. Multi-group analyses were conducted to examine cross-system differences. Results Cognitively activating instruction was positively associated with school belonging through both emotional security and social inclusion. The indirect effect via emotional security was stronger than that via social inclusion, while the direct effect remained significant, indicating partial mediation. Multi-group analyses revealed significant cross-system variation in the structural pathways, with the social inclusion pathway showing greater instability across education systems. Discussion The findings suggest that cognitively activating instruction promotes school belonging through distinct socio-emotional mechanisms that are context-dependent. Emotional security appears to represent a more consistent pathway across East Asian education systems than social inclusion.