Development of Perceived Social Justice in Education Scale for Primary School Students

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to develop a valid and reliable scale for measuring the primary school students’ perceived social justice in educational environments. A descriptive survey design was used. The data was collected from 475 fourth-grade students studying at five primary schools in Istanbul, Turkey. During the scale development, the following steps were taken: (1) The existing literature was reviewed and elementary school teachers’ opinions were gathered; (2) a draft scale was developed and the experts’ opinions were obtained; (3) the scale with 39 items was applied to 20 students for clarity, comprehensibility and applicability purposes; (4) the actual data was collected in two phases with the participation of 150 and 325 fourth-grade students, respectively; (5) Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. The preliminary analysis showed that the value of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin was .77 and the Bartlett’s sphericity test was statistically significant. The results of the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed a 3-factor structure with 13 items, explaining 52% of the total variance. The factors, compatible with the literature, were named as participatory justice, recognitional justice and distributive justice. The results of the first and the second order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were satisfactory (χ2/df: 1.89 and χ2/df: 1.86, respectively). The internal consistency reliability of the overall scale was .78. Finally, a valid and reliable 3-factor, 13 statements instrument, called Perceived Social Justice in Education Scale (PSJES) was developed. The use of this instrument in future related studies would hopefully shed light on the social justice dynamics in classrooms and their impacts on students’ academic, behavioural and social-emotional outcomes.