Connection between classroom climate and academic performance

Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between academic performance and certain dimensions (components) of classroom climate (teacherstudent interaction, social climate, fear of failure, and emotional climate), as well as the relationship between classroom climate components and sociodemographic variables. The sample included 180 sixth and eighth grade students from elementary schools in Leskovac. For the purposes of this study we used the Presence scale of classroom climate components and the General questionnaire created for this research. The results indicate that there is no statistically significant correlation between the classroom climate components and academic performance. Boys had higher scores when it came to the “social climate” component, while “fear of failure” was more expressed among girls. Younger students had higher scores with regard to the “teacher-student interaction” component and “emotional climate” component than the older ones .These results are partly in line with some previous studies and emphasize that it is very important to take into account the classroom climate that students are learning in, which may indirectly affect students’ academic performance.