Classroom climate, educational resources, and school sector-setting configuration in pupils Kohlberg-inspired moral justifications in Morocco: A multilevel analysis

This study examined associations between observed classroom climate, pupils’ educational resources, school sector-setting configuration, and selections of Kohlberg-inspired moral justifications, in Meknès province, Morocco. The cross-sectional observational sample comprised 337 pupils nested in 24 classrooms across 14 primary schools. Classroom climate was assessed during three two-hour observation sessions per classroom using French-language CLASS K–3 materials for Grades 1–3 and Upper Elementary materials for Grades 4–6. Moral justification was measured through ten contextualized fixed-choice situations and analyzed as an exploratory composite. Primary multilevel models nested pupils within classrooms, and small-sample sensitivity analyses addressed dependence at both classroom and school levels. More favorable classroom climate and greater individual educational resources were associated with higher scores on the exploratory moral-justification index. The climate association remained statistically distinguishable from zero under classroom-clustered inference but was only marginal under the more conservative school-clustered sensitivity analysis. The climate-by-resources interaction was positive under classroom-clustered inference but was not statistically distinguishable from zero under school-clustered sensitivity analyses. A climate-by-grade-band/CLASS-version interaction showed the same pattern of attenuation under school clustering. Because CLASS version was determined by grade band, developmental and version-related moderation cannot be separated. School-configuration and separate sector-setting contrasts remained imprecisely estimated. The findings support further longitudinal, multi-observer research on classroom interaction as a socially differentiated educational opportunity structure. They do not identify causal mechanisms and should not be generalized beyond the sampled schools.