COMPETITIVE AND NON-COMPETITIVE SCHOOL CLIMATE AND STUDENTS’ WELL-BEING

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BackgroundFor decades, a competitive school climate was considered to be an unhealthy factor resulting in an increased level of stress and anxiety while a supportive and cooperative educational environment was associated with positive outcomes such as higher levels of students’ well-being and better interpersonal relationships. ObjectivesThe present study investigated the relationship between perceived school climate, high-school students’ competitive attitudes, psychological protective factors, and psychological and somatic well-being. SampleParticipants were 407 high-school students attending high-schools with highly competitive and non-competitive educational programmes. MethodsStudents’ perception of the competitive climate of the school, their competitive orientation, psychological and somatic well-being (anxiety, perceived stress, somatic health, school burnout) and their psychological protective factors (positivity self-efficacy resilience) were measured ResultsPPerception of the school’s competitive climate corresponded to the respective school type.. No significant difference was found in perceived stress and somatic health indicators, but self-developmental competitive orientation, anxiety and school burnout were significantly higher in the competitive schools. The regression analysis indicated that psychological protective factors such as resilience, self-efficacy, and positivity have a strong positive, while Anxiety-driven Competition Avoidance has moderately strong negative effects on students’ psychological and somatic well-being irrespective of the competitive or non-competitive climate of the school environment. however contrary to previous assumptions competition-oriented school climate has only a weak direct negative effect. ConclusionIt is not the explicit and perceived competition/non-competition oriented educational climate that has a decisive influence on students’ well-being, but the nature of the students’ personal orientation towards competition, and their psychological protection.