Unveiling students' voices: an exploratory study of Portuguese students' feelings

Understanding students' feelings about daily school life can be a tool for schools to enhance their learning experience and sense of belonging. Despite the abundant research on achievement and engagement, few studies jointly examine the effect of students' over-age status considering the grade attended, gender, and school level within a multi-domain framework of student feelings. Even rarer are studies that examine how these variables interrelate to identify predictors of students' feelings about the learning experience, the aim of this study. Then, adopting a quantitative research approach, data were collected through a 1012-participant survey to map the students' feelings about school life. The data were analyzed using t-tests, ANOVA, and linear regression statistics to identify causes and associations with the schooling experience. The findings indicate that students who did not disclose their gender or are over-age, considering the grade attended, exhibited less-positive feelings. Additionally, positive feelings decrease along the school path, and six predictors-assessment, school climate, teacher support, emotional discomfort, relationship with peers, and grade-explain the learning experience feelings, with relevance to their interaction effect. The findings highlight the need for coordinated school interventions that promote students' positive feelings through inclusive, student-centred, and context-sensitive practices.