Direct and indirect impact of perceived school climate upon student outcomes

Abstract

This research aims at investigating and comparing the direct and indirect impact of children's perceptions of school climate upon their academic performance and socioemotional adjustment. A model was developed in which children's perception of school climate was considered as the independent variable and student academic performance and socioemotional adjustment as the dependent variables. Within this model, three mediating variables were selected which were children's perceptions of parental involvement, academic motivation and student academic engagement. The mediators indicate three broad categories, i.e., school, home and student-specific variables, which facilitate comparing the significance of their role in the model. Data was collected from 324 students from Grades 7 and 9 and only the complete data from 268 cases (girls=126, boys=142) was analyzed. Two independent models were tested through path analysis. Findings revealed differential roles of the selected mediators for the student outcomes. This study presents a significantly useful model to understand the impact of school climate and provides baseline information for the implementation of the National Education Policy (2009), which focuses upon the improvement of learning environment of the schools. On the basis of findings, conclusion and recommendations have been presented.