The impact of social deprivation on school climate, learning climate and work climate of compulsory schools in Switzerland

Abstract

Based on cross-sectional school inspection data and official statistics of the Canton Aargau, the study examines the impact of social deprivation on different aspects of the climate of compulsory schools in Switzerland. Starting with an exploratory correlation of climate factors, the article presents the results of a multi-level analysis with the learning climate as dependent variable on the individual level and a path model on the aggregation level which encompasses the index of social deprivation as independent variable and both the school climate and the work climate of the teaching staff as intermediating variables. The analysis shows a relatively strong impact of social deprivation on school and work climate. The learning climate, however, is not determined by the social environment, which suggests that teachers can make an important difference.