School climate, academic self-efficacy and student achievement

Although existing research mostly supports the association between school climate and academic achievement, the processes and factors that underlie this correlation are less explored. We rely on social-cognitive theory and the concept of academic self-efficacy to test a model in which academic self-efficacy mediates the association between school climate and academic achievement in a sample of 1,641 middle and high school students in Israel. The participants filled out measures of academic self-efficacy as well as a school climate questionnaire yielding 3 sub-scales describing interpersonal relations, violence, and sense of belonging. We also collected students’ grades in mathematics and English as well as self-report assessment of academic achievement. The results supported the model, with 2 of the 3 climate sub-scales (interpersonal relations and belonging) positively associating with self-efficacy, which in turn associated positively with all 3 measures of achievement. The results may add to our understanding of the underlying dynamics accounting for the association between organisational-level characteristics and individual performance in schools.