I am a teacher, a Head of Department, the Founder of The Seen Initiative, and Sunday World’s Unsung Hero for 2026. I have spent 12 years in the education space and I’m currently completing my PhD, presenting research both nationally and internationally. I write to you today about a subject I believe deserves far more attention than it receives: belonging in our schools.
As adults, we rarely remember the academic lessons we were taught. What stays with us is how we felt; whether we were seen, understood, and accepted as human beings. This is the truth I want to place before your readers.
Teachers need to truly “see” their learners, giving balanced attention to the quiet, introverted child as much as the confident, extroverted one. School managers need to “see” their staff, recognising quiet excellence and not only the loudest voices in the room. Parents, too, must be seen for not merely as the people who pay school fees and put food on the table, but as genuine partners in a child’s education.
Consider why we return to a particular doctor when we are unwell. It is rarely because they hold every answer. It is because they care, they notice, and they offer assurance. Schools are communities in exactly the same way. Every person within them, be it a learner, teacher, parent, and support staff, deserves to be noticed and supported to become the best version of themselves.
Belonging is not a soft add-on to education; it is foundational. I have seen teachers leave well-resourced schools for institutions of far lower standard, simply because it is there that their efforts are finally seen.
Perhaps most striking is something I have learned through my work with The Seen Initiative: not everyone living on the street is truly homeless in the way we assume. Some people choose the street over home, not because they lack shelter, but because they lack belonging within their own homes. On the street, strangers notice them, appreciate them, and offer them a sense of being seen that they could not find behind their own front door.
Schools must make belonging non-negotiable. Diversity must be embraced, not merely tolerated. Every learner, teacher, and parent who walks through the school gate should feel, unmistakably, that they are seen.
Cebolakhe Zondo
Teacher | Head of Department | Founder, The Seen Initiative | Sunday World Unsung Hero 2026
- Belonging in schools is crucial and often overlooked, impacting how learners, teachers, and parents feel valued and accepted.
- Teachers should attentively recognize all students, including quiet and introverted ones, while school managers must appreciate staff beyond the most outspoken.
- Parents should be treated as genuine partners in education, not just fee payers or providers.
- Belonging is foundational to education, influencing teacher retention even more than school resources.
- The Seen Initiative reveals that some homeless people choose the streets for a sense of belonging missing at home, highlighting the vital human need for being truly seen and accepted.
I am a teacher, a Head of Department, the
As adults, we rarely remember the academic lessons we were taught. What stays with us is how we felt; whether we were seen, understood, and accepted as human beings.
Teachers need to truly "see" their learners, giving balanced attention to the quiet, introverted child as much as the confident, extroverted one. School managers need to "see" their staff, recognising quiet excellence and not only the loudest voices in the room. Parents, too, must be seen for not merely as the people who pay school fees and put food on the table, but as genuine partners in a child's education.
Consider why we return to a particular doctor when we are unwell. It is rarely because they hold every answer. It is because they care, they notice, and they offer assurance. Schools are communities in exactly the same way. Every person within them, be it a learner, teacher, parent, and support staff, deserves to be noticed and supported to become the best version of themselves.
Perhaps most striking is something I have learned through my work with
. Diversity must be embraced, not merely tolerated. Every learner, teacher, and parent who walks through the school gate should feel, unmistakably, that they are seen.
Teacher | Head of Department |
