Enhancing School Climate Through Collective Efficacy: Moderating Role of Teacher Victimization in Greek Schools

• In Event: Roles of School Climate, Identity, and Support in Response to Teacher-Targeted Violence: A Global Perspective

Abstract

Background: Positive school climate is associated with improved student academic achievement, reduced violence, enhanced student development, and increased teacher retention (Cohen et al., 2009). Factors influencing school climate include teacher self-efficacy, job satisfaction (Aldridge & Fraser, 2016), and student problem behaviors (Reaves et al., 2018). Collective teacher efficacy, in particular, significantly impacts social interactions and overall school climate quality (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2021). Additionally, teacher burnout, characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment, is negatively associated with perceptions of school climate (Yang et al., 2022). Socio-emotional competencies are protective factors for teacher well-being, potentially mitigating adverse impacts on school climate (Collie, 2025). Additionally, teacher victimization negatively affects teachers’ perceptions of school climate, highlighting its importance as a contextual risk factor (Huang et al., 2017). Within Greek schools, previous studies have found significant links between students' socio-emotional health and positive school climates, highlighting resilience during socioeconomic challenges (Hatzichristou et al., 2018; Stasinou et al., 2020).
Purpose: The current study aims to investigate the role of collective efficacy; school connectedness; teaching self-efficacy; burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment); socio-emotional competencies; and teacher victimization in predicting teacher-reported school climate in Greek schools. It also aims to contribute to the theoretical understanding of how collective efficacy functions in the context of teacher victimization.
Theoretical Frameworks: This study is guided by social cognitive theory (Bandura, 2014), emphasizing collective teacher efficacy as a key driver of positive school climate. Collective efficacy reflects educators’ shared beliefs in their collective capacity to influence school functioning. In school settings, such beliefs have been shown to shape both interpersonal dynamics and institutional resilience, especially under challenging conditions.
Method: Data were collected online using snowball sampling from 315 elementary and secondary Greek teachers. Measures included school climate (Bear et al., 2014); teacher victimization (Yang et al., 2019); transformative socio-emotional learning (SEL) competencies (CASEL, 2021); teacher subjective well-being (school connectedness, teaching self-efficacy, and collective efficacy; TSWQ, Renshaw et al., 2015); and burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment; Maslach et al., 1996). Analytical approaches comprised correlational analyses, multiple regression, and moderation analyses.
Results: Collective efficacy emerged as the strongest positive predictor of school climate (β = .20, p < .001), followed by personal accomplishment (a dimension of burnout). Other burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization), school connectedness, and teaching self-efficacy did not significantly predict school climate. Teacher victimization showed negative correlations with school climate. Moderation analyses indicated socio-emotional competencies did not alter the impact of collective efficacy. However, property aggression, a dimension of teacher victimization, moderated this relationship significantly (p = .022), suggesting collective efficacy's beneficial impact on school climate is amplified in contexts with frequent property aggression incidents.
Significance: These findings underscore the pivotal role of collective teacher efficacy in cultivating positive school climates, particularly in challenging contexts marked by heightened victimization. Strengthening collective efficacy among educators emerges as a critical strategy for enhancing school climate and supporting teacher resilience, especially in environments experiencing elevated aggression incidents.

Authors

• Chryse (Sissy) Hatzichristou, National & Kapodistrian, University of Athens, Greece

• Aikaterini Lampropoulou, National & Kapodistrian, University of Athens