Implications in classroom climate research

Abstract

This paper reviews the advances and issues in classroom climate research from the point of climate definitions, research methods and school mental health. Because of the concept’s ambiguity and broadness, classroom climate research has not been discussed much in Japan. But because of increasing problems such as bullying and non-attendance at schools, the classroom environmental effects on student’s mental health and school adjustment need to be examined. First, we examine the definitions of climate and describe climate as a general concept which presents a group personality. Second, we overview the development of climate research from the social psychological one which is mainly based on teacher behavior observations, to the 1980’s one which uses questionnaires to obtain student’s climate perceptions. Then, the two main questionnaires “Classroom Environment Scale” and “Learning Environment Inventory”, including their theoretical background, are described. Third, we focus on recent research development and research outcomes related to school mental health to describe the importance of classroom climate research in school mental health.