Perceived classroom responsibility climate questionnaire: a new scale

Abstract

Background: Given the lack of measuring instruments, we aimed to develop and validate a scale to assess the classroom responsibility climate fostered by the teacher and the students in different school subject lessons. Method: 810 students from all secondary education years agreed to participate. Data were obtained from three different subjects: Mathematics (n = 240; 118 female, 13.10 +/- 1.07 years), Spanish Language and Literature (n = 318; 169 female 13.37 +/- 1.03 years) and Physical Education (n = 252, 112 female, 13.23 +/- .99 years). The first version of the questionnaire underwent a three-phase refining process: a) Assessment by experts (n = 8), b) Pilot study one (n = 100) to assess comprehensive adequacy, and c) Pilot study two (n = 300), an exploratory factor analysis. Results: The instrument consists of two factors: climate generated by the teacher and by the students. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that all fit indices were acceptable. Conclusion: The instrument presented adequate convergent, discriminant and concurrent validity and completes other existing tools, being suitable for use in the different secondary school subjects to assess the responsibility climate produced by the teacher and students.