Identifying profiles of students’ school climate perceptions using PISA 2015 data

The concept of school climate has received much attention as a predictor of educational outcomes, including students’ well-being, academic achievement, and motivation. To measure this concept, international large-scale assessments often rely on students’ perceptions of its different dimensions, such as their sense of belonging, teacher support, and disciplinary climate. However, students may perceive these dimensions differently and, ultimately, create inter-individual variation—a variation that has been explained only to a limited degree in the current body of literature. The present study explores this variation for the Norwegian PISA 2015 data (N = 5313). Using the person-centered approach of latent profile analysis, we found evidence for the existence of three student profiles: (1) students with consistently positive perceptions, (2) students with moderately negative perceptions, and (3) students with extremely negative perceptions, especially concerning teachers’ fairness and bullying. These results support the hypothesis of individual differences in school climate perceptions.