Validation of the Chinese version of the decent education scale in a school-based sample of Chinese adolescents

The Decent Education Scale (DES) assesses students’ perceptions of six dimensions of their educational experiences: physical safety, psychological safety, equitable environment, social belongingness, quality instruction, and postgraduation programming. No validated Chinese version is currently available for adolescent samples. This study aimed to translate and culturally adapt the DES into Chinese and examine its psychometric properties in a school-based sample of Chinese adolescents. A cross-sectional survey was conducted from February to March 2026 among 640 secondary school students (358 boys [55.9%] and 282 girls [44.1%]) from three schools in Zhejiang Province, China. The Chinese DES was developed through translation, back-translation, expert review, and content validity evaluation. Item analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), gender measurement invariance, reliability, convergent validity, and criterion-related validity with academic engagement and academic burnout were examined. The Chinese DES showed good item discrimination and satisfactory content validity. EFA suggested a five-factor pattern, with the quality instruction and postgraduation programming dimensions showing some overlap. CFA indicated that the original 18-item six-factor model fit the data better than the alternative five-factor model. The six-factor model demonstrated configural, metric, and scalar invariance across gender. The total scale showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.964), while the six subscales demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.878–0.959), split-half reliability (0.826–0.867), composite reliability (0.887–0.960), and convergent validity (AVE = 0.724–0.889). DES scores were positively associated with academic engagement and negatively associated with academic burnout. The Chinese version of the DES showed satisfactory psychometric properties among Chinese adolescents. The validated scale may facilitate future research on students’ perceived educational experiences and their associations with school adjustment and mental health.