Development and validation of the School Climate Questionnaire for Secondary and High School Teachers (SCQ-SHST)

Abstract

El presente estudio se centra en el desarrollo y validación inicial de una medida del clima escolar basada en las percepciones de los profesores. La medida fue desarrollada para integrar aquellos aspectos del clima escolar destacados en la literatura existente, incluyendo la estructura de metas escolar. Se realizaron análisis factoriales exploratorios y confirmatorios con una muestra de 581 profesores de secundaria y bachillerato. El uso de modelos de ecuaciones estructurales proporcionó evidencia sobre la validez concurrente a través de correlaciones con una medida criterio sobre la satisfacción laboral de los profesores. La estructura de metas escolar demostró ser un aspecto relevante para definir el clima escolar relacionándose sustancialmente con otros aspectos del mismo tales como la calidad del liderazgo o el apoyo entre profesores. Estos resultados proporcionaron evidencias empíricas a favor del uso del cuestionario propuesto entre las escuelas, especialmente en aquellas interesadas en articular intervenciones encaminadas a mejorar el entorno de aprendizaje a través de las siete dimensiones del clima escolar abordadas.

The present study focuses on the development and initial validation of a measure of school climate based on teachers’ perceptions. The measure was developed to integrate those aspects of the school climate highlighted in the existing literature and that proved relevant for teachers’ efficacy, including the school goal structure. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on a sample of 581 high school teachers. Results showed that a seven-correlated factor structure better represented the data, in comparison with a second-order model and a bifactor model. Structural equation modeling techniques provided evidence of the concurrent validity through correlations with a criterion measure of teacher job satisfaction. School goal structure proved to be an important aspect of school climate substantially related to other school climate factors such as school management quality and relationships among teachers. These findings provided some empirical support for the use of the questionnaire in schools, especially for those interested in articulating interventions aimed at improving the learning environment through the seven school climate dimensions addressed.