Education Reform Journal - Volume 5 - Number 2 - 2020

Oct 15, 2026

The study examines how secondary school students’ perceptions of school climate relate to their sense of school belonging and to academic achievement. Using a descriptive correlational survey design, it involves 340 sixth- and seventh-grade students from the 2007–2008 academic year. Students completed the School Climate Scale and the School Belonging Scale, while term grades were used to measure achievement. Results show no gender- or grade-based differences for climate and belonging perceptions, but significant differences emerge across climate, belonging, and academic success.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Education Reform Journal Volume 5 Number 2, 2020 [http://dx.doi.org/10.22596/erj2020.05.02.60.77](http://dx.doi.org/10.22596/erj2020.05.02.60.77) e-ISSN: 2602-3997 The Relationship Between Secondary Schools Students' Perceptions of School Climate, Their School Belonging And Their Academic Achievement Seva DEMIROZ 1 Submitted: March 11, 2020; Accepted: November 30, 2020; Published Online: December 31, 2020 Abstract The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between secondary school students' perceptions of school climate, their school belonging and their academic achievement. This descriptive study uses the correlational survey model. The participants were 340 sixth and seventh graders at a secondary school in the 2007-2008 academic year. To this end, the students were administered the School Climate Scale and the School Belonging Scale, and the average of their first term grades was used as a measure of academic achievement. This study found no significant difference between the students' perceptions of school climate and their school belonging by gender and grade. However, a significant difference was found between the students' perceptions of school climate and their school belonging, and their perceptions of school climate, school belonging and their academic success. Keywords: School Climate, School Belonging, Academic Success Introduction Schools provide education and training. Students spend critical years in school to prepare for social life. Schools have an important place in the quality of education. A number of variables affect their quality, including school climate and school belonging. The concept of school climate (Hoy, 2003; Wang & Degol, 2016) describes the quality and the characteristics of school life (Cohen, Mccabe, Michelli & Pickeral, 2009) . Although there is no consensus on its definition (Cohen et. al, 2009; Wang & Degol, 2016), it is agreed that school climate is multidimensional and includes physical, social and academic aspects (Loukas, Suzuki & Horton, 2006) and that it has a complex structure (Marshall, 2004; Suldo, McMahan, Chappel & Loker, 2012) . Briefly, school climate can be described as school characteristics and quality. It is based on the common perceptions of the people in the school and the influences of all their behaviors, and it is relatively continuous. School climate involves all the inner features that differentiate one school from another and affect the behavior of the people in the school (Hoy & Miskel, 2012) . Even if schools have similar physical structures, each school is a unique social organism with a unique atmosphere. As opposed to personality for individuals, schools have atmosphere or climate 1 Ari Okullari, [0000-0001-7099-263X], [sevademiroz@hotmail.com](sevademiroz@hotmail.com) (Bursalioglu, 2015) . In other words, school climate can vary from one school to another. The physical characteristics of school, the quality of social relations, the demographic and cultural backgrounds of students, teachers, administrators and other employees, shared norms and values all affect school climate. According to Norton (1984), school climate plays an important role in identifying the current and future situations of schools. Studies of school climate are valuable because they collect information that can help scholars to understand and improve schools (Anderson, 1982) . Improving school climate affects the quality of school practices and make schools successful (Sandy, Kimberlee, Cassandra & Robinson, 2007). [According to Cohen et. al](According to Cohen et. al) (2009), school climate describes the quality and characteristics of school life and affects school culture. The culture of a school can impact students' academic performance positively, which accordingly affects whether the school is effective. Effective schools support their students' emotional, cognitive, social, aesthetic and psychomotor development with the most appropriate learni

FAQs

What is the aim of this study?

To examine the relationship between students’ perceptions of school climate, their sense of school belonging, and their academic achievement.

How were the main variables measured?

Students completed the School Climate Scale and the School Belonging Scale, and their first-term grades were used as the academic achievement measure.

What did the study find about gender and grade differences?

No significant differences were found between students’ perceptions of school climate and their school belonging by gender and grade.

Oct 15, 2026

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