Student perceptions of school climate and individual wellbeing in post-socialist countries

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Cross-country comparative studies of educational reform in Eurasia

Proposal

Rationale
The purpose of this work is to explore the factors associated with individual wellbeing within the classroom and school setting. In educational environments, teachers are delivering and scaffolding many of the necessary competencies for social-emotional learning development, often without additional resources. This study aims to examine the components of social-emotional learning within school settings from student and school leadership perspectives.

Relevance to CIES
Several studies have highlighted the important role of school climate in individual wellbeing. The processes that merge content mastery with social-emotional experiences help to facilitate student growth (Abelev, 2009; Usher, 2008), and classrooms are often the spaces where these developments happen (Cefai & Cavioni, 2015). Emotional wellbeing strongly impacts one’s cognitive ability and academic achievement (Berson & Baggerly, 2016). School climate is a salient part of individual achievement (Reynolds, Lee, Turner, & Bromhead, 2017), and of providing a contextual atmosphere for ongoing engagement and support (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2016). Positive and supportive relationships among school leaders, teachers and students are crucial in creating a healthy classroom environment for students (Poulou, 2015; Jennings & DiPrete, 2010). In the context of a positive classroom environment, individual accomplishment and perceived support systems become an instrumental component in continued student success. This study examines how characteristics of school climate, such as quality of perceived student-teacher relationships and student support systems, impact an individual sense of belonging, motivation, and self-efficacy. It also seeks to provide a comparative lens of student wellbeing within educational environments in post-socialist Eastern Europe. Multi-level statistical modeling is employed to explore data in seven countries: Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania.

Within this framework, we seek to answer the following research questions:
1. How do students’ perceptions of school climate impact their self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and motivation?
2. Is this effect contextually different based on gender, socioeconomic status, and parental support systems?
3. What cross-national differences exist within these findings among different post-socialist countries?

Theoretical framework
Building on the framework for the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL, 2012; https://casel.org) along with Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory, we examine the classroom and school-level environments affecting student wellbeing, along with teacher behaviors aimed at supporting individual growth. Self-efficacy is largely supported by environmental factors like autonomy, previous experiences and achievement (Ross & Broh, 2000; Usher, 2008). It is also enhanced through mastering experiences, supportive social attitudes and positive emotional contexts (Boakye, 2015). Positive school climate, in turn, is linked to higher academic achievement, student wellbeing and belonging, self-efficacy measures, and mental health (Phan & Ngu, 2016; Reynolds et. al., 2017). Student engagement and learning behaviors are predicted by the structure and atmosphere of the classroom environment. Moreover, teachers’ relationships with students can provide a strong support system for social-emotional learning, motivation and strength in individual confidence (Islander & Eastern, 1998). In these ways, perceived teacher support and enthusiasm for learning have clear implications for future student wellbeing.

Emotional wellbeing has become a notable component in assessing children’s pathways to success, particularly within the school environment (Awartani, Whitman, & Gordon, 2008; Phan & Ngu, 2016). Emotional regulation impacts one’s cognitive ability, and emotions tie into how well an individual can succeed academically (Berson & Baggerly, 2016). The school environment is a direct factor in children’s emotional development and has a great deal of influence on coping mechanisms and subsequent behavior (Cefai & Cavioni, 2015; Miyamoto, Huerta, & Kubacka, 2015); a positive school environment can also mitigate the adverse reactions of compounding stressors, such as poverty and disadvantaged social contexts (Pate, Maras, Whitney, & Bradshaw, 2017; Reynolds et al., 2017; Thapa, Cohen, Guffey, & Higgins-D’Alessandro, 2013). In an educational context that lacks necessary resources, the implication for social and emotional success is even larger. Positive relationships with teachers and peers are instrumental in facilitating individual development, not only through social interaction but by improving one’s internal sense of belonging, academic resilience and likelihood for educational success (Aydiner & Kalender, 2015). Additional research has found cross-cultural variability, suggesting that potential country-specific mechanisms can influence levels of individual wellbeing (Lee, 2009). The educational systems of the post-socialist countries included in this study are products of highly regulated socialist frameworks and increased hierarchical stratification and inequality. Despite recent transitions, some of them still include means of curricular tracking and varied patterns of instability, educational attainment, and increased gender inequalities (Bodovski et. al., 2014). School climate supports self-efficacy development in subject-specific contexts, while motivation tends to be regarded though a more general lens (Bong & Skaalvik, 2014). As such, the complex mechanisms affecting overall student self-beliefs provide a salient opportunity for further research.


Data & Methods
This study employs the 2018 wave of the PISA survey to explore the associations between perceived school climate and social-emotional learning competencies. Student perceptions of school climate include perceived teacher support and enthusiasm, along with school cooperation and competition. Social-emotional learning measurements include student motivation, self-efficacy, and sense of belonging in school. Multi-level regression analysis is used in order to account for the nested structure of the data. We employed confirmatory factor analysis to create the multi-faceted measures of student wellbeing. The analysis is run separately for all seven countries, controlling for background characteristics such as parent support, socioeconomic status components, gender, and educational expectations.

Preliminary findings suggest that a supportive teacher-student relationship is a predictor of individual sense of belonging, motivation, and self-efficacy. Results also suggest that a calm, positive school climate, parental education and increased educational achievement also support motivation. These initial findings provide a glimpse into a more comprehensive view of student wellbeing, and how the attitudes surrounding this concept differ in separate environments. Educational success requires not only motivation, but also perseverance and self-efficacy. The policy implications are noteworthy, especially as a positive and consistently supportive school climate can help develop student confidence and ensuing success. Given that strong, consistent, and trusting relationships between teachers and students enhance and facilitate different components of social-emotional learning, the mechanisms of school climate provide striking implications for continued student wellbeing.

Authors

• O. Ruxandra Apostolescu, Penn State University

• Katerina Bodovski, Penn State University