Validation and cross-cultural robustness of the School-wide Climate Scale (SCS) across Spanish and Chilean students

Abstract

School-wide climate is a construct widely spread in the area of education. However, so far the instruments designed to measure this phenomenon usually collect data about specific aspects of the construct, rather than comprehending the construct as a whole. The objective was to analyse the validity of the factorial structure of a scale designed to assess the construct coexistence in school on students of primary education. The sample, 2447 primary education students from Chile and Spain. An exploratory and then a confirmatory analysis factor were run to test the validity of a structure composed by: Positive Interpersonal Management, Victimization, Disruptiveness, Peer Social Network, Aggression, Normative Adjustment, Indiscipline, and Teacher Apathy. The results proved that the eight-factor structure is suitable for the Chilean population. In addition, the results revealed invariance across both populations. The School-wide Climate Scale is a reliable and valid instrument for the multidimensional assessment of the school-wide climate.