1. Acknowledgements and contact
The influence of the perceived school climate on adolescents’ academic achievement: Testing the mediating role of intrinsic school motivation Marie Claire Vaillancourt1, Vanessa Blanchette-Luong1, Marie-Hélène Véronneau1, & Cécile Mathys2 1Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada), 2Université de Liège (Belgium)
Background
Results
School achievement is important in the development of adolescents.
It is associated with positive social adaptation, the development of social skills and better physical and mental health in adulthood (Chen et al. 2003; Adams, 2002).
It is known that teenagers spend a large portion of their time at school and their perceptions of school climate is a factor that may influence their academic success.
School climate reflects the dominating values and attitudes in the school and is an indicator of the general atmosphere of the establishment.
A positive school climate encourages academic and social learning (Janosz et al. 1997).
In fact, studies show a connection between school climate and academic achievement, but very few studies have explored how this link operates and how it is explained
That’s why this study seeks to explore the underlying processes that may explain how students’ perception of school climate predicts school success:
Intrinsic academic motivation.
Intrinsic academic motivation is associated with good academic performance (Harter & Connell, 1984).
This study tests if students’ intrinsic motivation mediates the relation between positive school climate and student academic success.
Hypothesis confirmed : intrinsic motivation mediates the association between a positive perception of school climate and academic achievement (β= .02, p ≤ .05).
A positive school climate at the first measurement time predicts higher intrinsic academic motivation six months later and in turn, this predicts better academic success a year later.
Gender differences
Model results did not differ across genders.
Conclusion
How students perceive the larger school environment in which they learn influences their own individual motivation to learn which is subsequently related to their success in school.
These results press the importance of prevention programs that aim to improve school climate :
(1) because of its direct effects on academic achievement
(2) but also because of its direct effects on student intrinsic motivation, a factor that promotes a myriad of positive student outcomes that include but also go above and beyond grades.
Therefore, this study highlights school climate as an important aspect to work on for schools identified as having high dropout rates. It sets the stage for further studies to develop prevention and intervention programs that aim to equip these at-risk schools to provide a safe, uninterrupted and secure school environments in which students can develop optimal ways to reach their full potential .
Hypothesis
We hypothesize that a positive school climate will enhance student’s intrinsic motivation, which will in turn positively influence student’s academic achievement.
A demonstration of these hypotheses is shown in Figure 1
Method
Participants and Procedure
905 students (53% females, primarily Caucasian, years old) from a Belgian secondary school (grade 1-5)
Participants were assessed in class using paper-pencil questionnaires at three time, March 2012, November 2012 and March 2013.
Measures
Perception of school climate :
5 subscales of French version of the Socio-Educational Environment Questionnaire of Schools (Janosz, 2007) :
- Relational Climate (10 items, α = .87) - Security Climate (8 items, α= .50)
- Belonging Climate (6 items, α= .89) Justice Climate (9 items, α = .85) Educational Climate (7 items, α = .91)
Intrinsic motivation (IM)
3 subscales of the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS, Vallerand, 1989):
- IM Knowledge (4 items, α = .84) IM Stimulation (4 items, α = .80)
- IM Accomplishment (4 items, α = .79)
Academic achievement
School records (grade point average).
Analytic Strategy
Path analysis (Mplus software, version 7)
References
Adams, S. J. (2002). Educational Attainment and Health: Evidence from a Sample of Older Adults. Education Economics, 10(1), 97.
Chen, X., Chang, L., & He, Y. (2003). The Peer Group as a Context: Mediating and Moderating Effects on Relations Between Academic Achievement and Social Functioning in Chinese Children. Child Development, 74(3), doi: / =
Harter, S., & Connell, J. P. (1984). A model of children's achievement and related self-perceptions of competence, control, and motivational orientation. Advances in motivation and achievement, 3, Janosz, M., & Bouthillier, C. (2007). Rapport de validation du Questionnaire sur l’Environnement Socioéducatif des écoles secondaires (QES-secondaire). Montréal: Université de Montréal.
Janosz, M., LeBlanc, M., Boulerice, B. et Tremblay, R. E. (1997). Disentangling the weight of school dropout predictors: A test on two longitudinal samples. Journal of youth and adolescence, 26(6),
Vallerand, R. J., Blais, M. R., Brière, N. M., & Pelletier, L. G. (1989). Construction et validation de l'échelle de motivation en éducation (EME). [Construction and validation of the Motivation toward Education Scale.]. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, 21(3), doi: /h
Acknowledgements and contact
Partial support to Marie-Hélène Véronneau from the Université du Québec à Montréal's Faculty of Social Sciences, Start-up grant for new professors-researchers program. Thank you to all Assistant and participants who participated in the realization of this project.
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