School climate, social identity processes and school outcomes: Making the case for a group-level approach to understanding schools

An import ant area of inquiry within the educational domain concerns school climate and related concepts such as school connectedness and school belonging (e.g., Thapa, Cohen, Higgins­D’Alessandro and Guffey, 2013). School climate is defined in different ways, but in essence, it focuses on student perceptions of academic emphasis, the way groups within a school (e.g., teachers, students, parents) relate to one another, and the higher order norms, values, and practices (shared mission) that define the school as a whole (Thapa et al., 2013). In this chapter, we argue that incorporating a social psycho logical analysis of the group within the school climate domain can advance under standing of school life. To date, most emphasis is placed on the psycho logy of individuals as ­individuals and inter personal relationships. What is missing is an analysis of the group.