SCHOOL CLIMATE REPORTS FROM NORWEGIAN TEACHERS - A METHODOLOGICAL ANDSUBSTANTIVE STUDY

Using a set of data derived from 42 schools at two points in time and a widely accepted definition of organizational climate, a number of me thodological and substantive issues relating to school climate were ex plored. Via principal component analysis, four dimensions of school cl imate were identified. In approaching the key issue, under what condit ions it is meaningful to speak of a climate dimension as a characteris tic of the school (and not some lower-level unit), it is tentatively p roposed that a climate dimension has a 'unit reliability' of .15 or mo re and an 'aggregate reliability' of at least .35 in order to be consi dered a school characteristic. Furthermore, the ''longitudinal relativ e consistency'' or stability of the dimensions was examined. It was fo und that at least three of the dimensions were relatively enduring ove r time, as they should be according to the definition of school climat e. Multilevel analyses suggested;hat the teacher reports of school cli mate were fairly robust and generalizable. The thinking and findings i n this article are related to recent work in the school improvement an d effectiveness field.