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In this paper we discuss the social identity processes by which discrimination can have an impact on ethnic-racial minority group students’ academic engagement. After considering the forms, targets and sources of discrimination, we argue that discrimination implies social identity threat. Threats to ethnic/racial identity compromise specific social identity needs (belongingness, esteem, control) which relate to important motives for academic engagement and performance. Minority students seek to cope with their threatened ethnic/racial identity, and increased engagement as well as protective disengagement with the academic domain, at both the individual level and the group level, are discussed as coping strategies. We also briefly consider the possible moderating roles of individual differences in the subjective importance of one’s ethnic or racial group membership, and of three classroom characteristics: classroom composition, student–teacher relation, and multicultural education. We conclude by providing directions for future research and consider some practical implications.

Although research has shown that school context has consequences for intergroup attitudes, few studies have examined the role of teacher qualities, such as teacher support. In addition, previous research has paid limited attention to the mechanisms that could help to explain teacher effects. This 5-wave study (2010–2015) examined the effects of perceived teacher support on the anti-immigrant attitudes of Swedish majority youth (N = 671, Mage = 13.41, 50.2% girls, 34 classrooms). It also tested whether social trust would mediate these effects. The results of multilevel analyses showed that perceived teacher support was associated with less prejudice at all levels of analysis. At the within-person level, fluctuations in teacher support were related to fluctuations in youth prejudice: in years when, on average, adolescents perceived their teachers as more supportive, they reported lower prejudice. At the between-person level, adolescents who perceived their teachers as more supportive compared to their peers reported lower prejudice. Similarly, classrooms where students shared an experience of teacher support were lower in prejudice than classrooms with weaker teacher support. The results also showed that social trust explained teacher effects: adolescents who experienced their teachers as more supportive displayed higher levels of trust and, in turn, lower levels of prejudice than youth with less supportive teachers. These findings suggest that teachers can counteract the development of prejudice and facilitate social trust in adolescents by being supportive of them.

Many studies have examined the importance of teacher—student relationships for the development of children. Much less is known, however, about how these relationships impact the professional and personal lives of teachers. This review considers the importance of teacher—student relationships for the wellbeing of teachers starting from the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping of Lazarus (1991). Based on theories on interpersonal relationships, it is postulated that teachers have a basic need for relatedness with the students in their class. It is discussed that teachers internalize experiences with students in representational models of relationships that guide emotional responses in daily interactions with students and change teacher wellbeing in the long run. In addition, the notion of mental representations of relationships at different levels of generalization could offer a window to understand how individual teacher—student relationships may affect the professional and personal self-esteem of teachers. Lastly, it is argued that the influence of student misbehavior on teacher stress may be more fully understood from a relationship perspective. The review shows that few studies have directly tested these propositions and offers suggestions for future research.

Schools can be important for the development of national belonging in students with immigrant backgrounds. Following Contact Theory and prior research on diversity norms, this cross-sectional survey study examined if intergroup contact and perceived diversity norms of teachers and classmates predicted national belonging in ethnic minority (i.e., Turkish [n = 95], Moroccan [n = 73], and Surinamese [n = 15]) versus majority students (n = 213) living in the Netherlands (Mage = 10.53 years; 50.3% female). Minority students reported less national belonging than their ethnic Dutch classmates. Multilevel analyses indicated that their national belonging was affected by the presence of ethnic Dutch classmates and the relationship with their teacher. These results indicate that minority students’ national belonging could be promoted by reducing school segregation and stimulating positive teacher-student relationships.

Ethnic identity plays a key role in the normative development of children and adolescents, and efforts to provide a positive and safe environment for ethnic identity benefit from an understanding of its context-dependency. Following the social identity perspective, we add to research on ethnic identity by considering the role of the classroom context and by conceptualizing ethnic identity in terms of two key dimensions. Specifically, the present study aims to investigate the role of the classroom context for ethnic private regard (positive ethnic self-feelings) and for the under-researched construct of ethnic introjection (subjective self-group merging). These two dimensions of ethnic identity were examined in 51 Dutch school classes among grade 4–6 students (N= 573; Mage = 10.77, SD = 1.02; 54% girls) of Dutch, Turkish and Moroccan ethnic background. We focused on teachers’ multicultural norms and classmates’ evaluation of the ethnic in-group (peer group norms) in combination with the ethnic class composition. It was found that ethnic introjection was empirically distinct from ethnic private regard, and that the former dimension depended on the classroom context more than the latter. Multicultural teacher norms affected minority preadolescents’ private regard positively, but only when the share of in-group classmates was low. Positive peer group norms of in-group classmates strengthened students’ introjection, while those of out-group classmates lowered it. The findings indicate that ethnic identity research will be enhanced by more fully considering the conceptual and contextual implications of the social identity perspective.

Autochthony belief (“that a country is owned by its first inhabitants”) can be an acceptable reason for claiming collective ownership of a territory and this claim can have negative consequences for newcomers. Children might reason that a place belongs to their in-group because “we” were here first and therefore have negative out-group attitudes. In three studies among Dutch majority group children (N = 879; Mage = 10.13 to 10.84, SD = 0.82 to 0.98; 49.7 to 54.5% girls), the expected negative association between autochthony beliefs and attitudes was found for different measures of ethnic attitudes, and was robust across gender, age, immigrant target group, ethnic identification, perceived multicultural education and classroom composition. Additionally, the association was especially strong among ethnic majority children who felt less at home in their own country but at the same time cared about being Dutch. It is concluded that a focus on autochthony belief makes a novel and relevant contribution to the intergroup developmental literature and to our limited understanding of children’s attitudes toward immigrant groups and newcomers more generally.

Children (n = 133, aged 8–13) were interviewed about helping situations that systematically varied in recipient's need for help and the costs for the helper. In situations where helping a peer involved low costs, children perceived a moral obligation to help that was independent of peer norms, parental authority, and reciprocity considerations. When helping a peer involved high costs this overpowered the perceived obligation to help, but only in situations involving low need and when in line with reciprocity. When both need and costs were high, younger children expressed stronger moral indignation while older children were less negative and reasoned in terms of other solutions. Furthermore, stronger moral indignation was related to more advanced social perspective taking skills when need and costs were high.

Despite strong debates about the role of Islamic education in Western societies, very little is known about the ways these schools can affect how Muslim children feel about these societies and themselves. This research examined how the self-esteem and national identification of Islamic schools students in a non-Muslim country (N = 707; Mage = 10.02; SD = 1.25; 56.9% girls) depend on their perceptions of religious discrimination and the student-teacher relationship, as well as their teachers’ religious background and implicit religious attitude. Children reported substantially more religious discrimination against their group than against themselves. Religious discrimination was associated with lower self-esteem and weaker national identification, whereas a close bond with the teacher was associated with higher self-esteem and stronger national identification. Children with a non-Muslim teacher reported more national identification than students with a Muslim teacher, but less so if this teacher had a comparatively positive attitude toward Muslims. Results provide insights on how self-esteem and national identification can be encouraged within the context of Islamic education.

This research examined the preference for identity-first language (IFL) versus person-first language (PFL) among 215 respondents ( M age = 30.24 years, SD  = 9.92) from the Dutch autism community. We found that a stronger identification with the autism community and a later age of diagnosis predicted a stronger IFL preference and a weaker PFL preference. Both effects were mediated by the perceived consequences (justice to identity, prejudice reduction) of PFL. Participants’ own explanations were in line with these statistical analyses but also provided nuance to the IFL-PFL debate. Our results are consistent with the Social Identity Approach (Reicher et al., 2010 ) and Identity Uncertainty Theory (Hogg, 2007 ) and demonstrate the value of a social psychological approach to study disability language preferences.