First and foremost, we thank the students and teachers who continue to support our efforts to investigate school alienation within the "School Alienation in Switzerland and Luxembourg (SASAL)" research project. We would also like to thank the school principals for giving us access to their teachers and students. Second, we would like to thank the research assistants who supported us during the data collection and data entry processes.

Early identification of school alienation is of great importance for students '

Abstract. Previous studies have shown that secondary schools are less successful than primary schools in responding to student needs. Simultaneously, students seem to detach themselves during secondary schooling. Based on this, the present study investigated alienation from learning and its relationship with students’ perception of needs support by teachers and peers by analyzing data from 486 primary and 550 secondary school students in Switzerland. Multigroup structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the relevance of each independent variable for alienation from learning within and across the two subsamples. Teacher injustice as an indicator for the teacher-student relationship was significantly associated with alienation from learning for both subsamples, whereas there was a significant effect for competence support only in secondary schools. The findings highlight the importance of just and supportive teachers in preventing students’ alienation from learning in school.

Early adolescence represents a particularly sensitive period in the life of young learners, which is accompanied by an increase in school alienation. Due to its harmful nature (

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