INSTRUCTIONAL CLIMATE IN DUTCH SECONDARY-EDUCATION

Research, aimed at constructing an instrument for measuring instructio nal climate, was conducted in 121 Dutch schools for senior general sec ondary education. The instrument comprised scales for students, teache rs, heads of department and principals. All scales proved to be suffic iently reliable and valid. The results show that the following variabl es are significantly related to students' results in mathematics: stud ents' enjoyment of mathematics; students' attitude towards high grades ; students' enjoyment of learning; appreciation of how teachers prepar e students for tests; students' appreciation of the teacher as a perso n; students' appreciation of teaching abilities; an orderly instructio nal climate in the classroom; frequent monitoring of student results e mphasizing achievement by teachers; and the principals' emphasis on a task oriented climate.