In Netflix’s Adolescence—a gut punch to parents everywhere—13-year-old Jamie Miller struggles for acceptance, desperately seeking connection in a world that seems designed to exclude him. We watch Jamie, who dreads going to school, navigate crowded hallways with quiet angst. His plunge into increasingly dangerous online spaces isn’t just teenage rebellion—it’s a frenzied search for belonging, to feel seen and heard.
While the show explores dark themes like social isolation, online radicalization, and toxic masculinity, it brings to light a familiar truth that educators know instinctively: Beneath many behaviors, academic challenges, or acts of withdrawal is a student asking—“Do I belong here?” For some students, like Jamie, the answer is no.
This issue of Educational Leadership tackles belonging head-on. From creating truly inclusive learning spaces for all students, to providing feedback that fosters trust, to building healthier digital cultures, these articles go beyond surface-level inclusion.
The data is sobering: In 2020, 44 percent of high schoolers reported having no supportive relationships with adults or peers, a sharp increase from a decade earlier. Today, nearly half are turning to GenAI platforms like ChatGPT for support with friendships and mental health. While “supplements” to human relationships, these interactions cannot replace the deep connections with teachers and peers that students need to thrive.
This issue offers strategies for weaving belonging—one of ISTE+ASCD’s Transformational Learning Principles—into student learning. Research shows that belonging is linked to improved academic performance—students who feel safe and valued are more likely to ask questions, wrestle with challenging problems, and develop skills like empathy and collaboration.
Though extreme, Adolescence shows us what can happen when kids feel unseen in the spaces built to nurture them. But unlike Jamie’s story, our students’ search for belonging doesn’t have to end in tragedy. Schools are places where belonging can be either fostered or undermined. The question isn’t whether students need to belong—it’s whether we’ll be the adults who make them feel like they do. If we want students to learn, they have to believe we care.
