Primary School Climate measurement: Examining factorial validity and reliability from teachers’ perspective

• Main Authors: Sintayehu Belay, Solomon Melese, Amera Seifu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2021-01-01
• Series: Cogent Education
• Subjects: school climate dimensions; measurement scale; factor analysis; reliability; validity
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2021.1929039
• ISSN: 2331-186X

This study sought to devise a reliable and validated measurement scale to evaluate teachers’ perceptions of school climate. The study sample consisted of 379 teachers working in Awi district public primary schools, Ethiopia. Measurement scale had five latent factors (school climate dimensions) and 26 indicators (items). The coefficient alpha values for internal consistency of items and the factor rho coefficients showed high reliability of the measurement scale. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was carried out to validate the measurement scale by determining the convergent and discriminant validity among five school climate dimensions. Average variance extracted (AVE) values showed adequate convergent validity of school climate dimensions. The discriminant validity across school climate dimensions was established using shared variance and heterotrait–monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT) methods, which indicated that the five school climate dimensions are distinctively different from one another. Results revealed that the school climate is found to be a multidimensional concept with five-factor solution comprising 26 reliable and valid items that can be used to assess teachers’ perceptions of school climate in different contexts. It is suggested that the future researcher can apply multi-group and multilevel confirmatory factor analysis to enhance the applicability of the measurement scale across countries.