PERCEIVED QUALITY OF SCHOOL LIFE AND EMPATHIC CLASSROOM ATMOSPHERE AMONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Semra Bilgic
Ministry of National Education
Dr. Mediha Sari
Cukurova University

ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived quality of school life and empathic classroom atmosphere of the elementary school students. The sample of the study consisted of 298 sixth-, seventh-, and eight-grade students from elementary schools in Adana central districts in 2008-2009 school year. The Quality of School Life Scale (QSLS, Sarı, 2007) and the Perceived Intra-Classroom Empathic Atmosphere Scale (IEAS, Özbay and Şahin, 2000) were used as data collection tools. To analyze the gathered data, means and standard deviation distributions were investigated and independent samples t-test, one way analysis of variance, and correlation analysis were performed. Results of these analysis showed that the perceived quality of school life and emphatic classroom atmosphere of the students were around the average points of the scales. A positive significant relationship was found between students’ perceptions of school life quality and emphatic classroom atmosphere. For both of the scales, while no significant differences were found in terms of gender, it was found that there were significant differences in terms of grade-level in favor of sixth grade students. In addition, students who have higher positive perceptions of emphatic classroom atmosphere found to be have higher positive perceptions toward the quality of life in their schools..

Anahtar Sözcükler

Quality of school life, Empathic classroom atmosphere, Perceived intra-classroom empathic atmosphere, Attitude, Scale.

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