Increasing knowledge and self-efficacy through a pre-service course on promoting positive school climate: the crucial role of reducing moral disengagement

Teachers play an important role in promoting a positive school climate, which in turns supports academic achievement and positive mental health among students. This study evaluated the impact of a preservice teacher education course addressing a range of contributors to school climate. Participants included a cohort of 212 pre-service teachers (75.2% female) who were surveyed during the first week of their teacher preparation program. A second cohort of pre-service students (n = 199, 60.8% female) was used as a comparison group. Preand post-tests demonstrated positive gains in the knowledge about bullying and self-efficacy in responding and reporting to incidents of students’ exposure to violence. Changes in moral disengagement were associated with improvements in knowledge, whereas personal experience with violence predicted changes in self-efficacy. Findings underscore the need for specific instruction in the area of promoting school climate. School climate is a broad, multifaceted concept that involves many aspects of the student’s educational experience. A positive school climate is the product of a school’s attention to fostering safety; promoting a supportive academic, disciplinary, and physical environment; and encouraging and maintaining respectful, trusting, and caring relationships throughout the school community no matter the setting – from Pre-K/Elementary School to higher education. (US Department of Education, 2009) A positive school climate promotes students’ academic success and is also directly associated with good mental health (Thapa, Cohen, Guffey, & Higgins-D’Alessandro, 2013). School climate has been conceptualized in different ways, but is generally recognized as a multidimensional construct that includes domains such as safety, engagement and environment (Bradshaw, Waasdorp, Debnam, & Johnson, 2014), with the possible addition of teaching and learning (Orpinas & Horne, 2006). School climate has become a target for many federal and local school improvement initiatives based on the growing body of research identifying associations between school climate and a wide range of outcomes (US Department of Education, 2009). At the heart of a positive school climate, are students who feel safe, included, and accepted, in their schools (Ontario Ministry of Education, n.d.). Although there © 2016 the clifford Beers Foundation