Examination of Roman primary school students' senses of school belonging

The aim of this research is to examine the sense of belonging to the school of Romany primary school students studying in Konya. The participants of the research consisted of 121 Romany students and 44 parents. In the research, the convergent mixed design was preferred among the mixed method designs. In this design, quantitative and qualitative data are collected simultaneously. First, quantitative data is analyzed and described, and then qualitative data is analyzed and interpreted. In the quantitative dimension of the research; Selçuk and Güner's (1999) Sense of Belonging Scale was applied to Romany students. In the qualitative part, the Case Study Design, one of the qualitative research designs, was used. In the qualitative dimension, 10 open-ended questions prepared by taking expert opinions were directed to Romany parents. The answers received from the parents were analyzed and evaluated together with the quantitative findings. From the quantitative findings of the study, it was concluded that Romany primary school students have a high sense of school belonging. In addition, it was determined that the level of school belonging of female students was significantly higher than that of male students. In the qualitative findings of the research, six themes (school satisfaction, Romany poverty, school absenteeism and dropout, social stigma, social exclusion, and social inclusion and cohesion) were formed by taking expert opinion as a result of the experiences of some Romany parents at school. It was concluded that although some Romany parents experienced exclusion and stigmatization from these themes, their children's sense of belonging to school was at a high level. In addition, it was concluded that the positive attitudes of teachers and school administrators towards parents positively affected the students' sense of belonging to the school. As a result of the research, the participation of Romany students in the inclusive education content, giving seminars to the teachers on this subject, the preparation of the applied curriculum by considering the Romany students, the solution of the problem of Romany poverty, production of effective projects to bring the Romany students to school have been suggested. Moreover, suggestions have been made to the researchers about the sense of belonging to the school level of Romany students at the secondary and high school to examine their emotions.