Perceptions Of Classroom Climate By Secondary School Students: Grade And Gender Features

Abstract

Classroom climate is regarded as the nearest learning environment of school children, and its impact on their social, motivational, emotional, cognitive development can be beneficial for or a barrier to learning. The research aimed to study the perceptions of classroom climate by secondary school students, according to grade and gender, and relationship between these perceptions and school anxiety. 320 secondary school students of 5, 7, and 10 grades evaluated various dimensions of climate in their classroom: cooperating teachers, cooperation and rivalry among classmates, interest in learning, achievement goal orientation, and disciplinary disturbances. The results obtained show that classroom climate in the students’ perceptions is presented as multidimensional construct, including the various components, which are influenced differently by the grade and gender. The students in the grade 7 reported about the least favorable classroom climate with higher rivalry and disciplinary disturbances, whereas in the grade 10 classroom climate was perceived as the most favorable with cooperation among classmates and teachers. The gender differences in the perceptions of classroom climate were displayed, especially in grade 10. The girls estimated the cooperation among classmates higher, than the boys. The perceptions of the different components of classroom climate significantly correlated with the anxiety in the opposite directions: interest in learning, cooperation of teachers and classmates negatively and rivalry positively, especially in the grade 10. Our data confirm that quality of social and emotional interactions between and among students and teachers largely determines the peculiarity of classroom climate.