The Academic Events Group, 6th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION

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Sense of Community Perceptions of Undergraduate Students in TURKEY
saadet KURU ÇETİN, Funda Nayır

Last modified: 2017-03-24

Abstract


Sense of community (SOC) is described as a feeling where members care about and support one another, actively participate in and have influence on the group’s activities and decisions, feel a sense of belonging and identification with the group, and have common norms, goals, and values. Studies on sense of community has been continued for many years. At school sense of community (SOC) is defined as a student’s feeling of being known by, accepted by, valued by, and having influence with their teachers and classmates (Schaps, Lewis & Watson, 1997). It is also described as feeling connected to, engaged to, belonging to, and committed to school. The quality of students’ social relations with each other, with teachers and with administrators contributes to an enhanced school environment. The benefits of community building in schools depend on the school’s efforts (Sheers, 2010). Students in schools with a strong sense of community are more likely to be academically motivated (Solomon, Battistich, Watson, Schaps, & Lewis, 2000); to act ethically and altruistically (Schaps, Battistich, & Solomon, 1997); to develop social and emotional competencies (Solomon et al., 2000); and to avoid a number  of problem behaviors, including drug use and violence (Resnick et al., 1997).  Students in schools with a sense of community acquire the habit of listening and show tolerance and respect to others. Since these students exhibit this behaviour in later stages of their lives they also contribute the establishment of democracy in society and eventually the formation of a democratic society.  The aim of this study to find out that sence of community perceptions of undergraduate students in Turkey. Research sample is composed of 300 undergraduate students. As a data gathering instrument, Sence of Community Scale developed by Chavis, Lee & Acosta (2008) is used by adopting Turkish. Scale is composed of 4 subscales called Reinforcement of Needs Membership, Influence, Shared Emotional Connection, 24 items. The data analysis process is going on.