A STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF ATMOSPHERIC VARIABLES OF SCHOOL CLIMATE ON LEADERSHIP OF THE PRINCIPALS OF THE PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN SAMUT SAKHON PRIMARY EDUCATIONAL SERVICE AREA OFFICE: MULTILEVEL EDUCATION

Abstract

The purposes of this research to: (1) examine the moderating effects of school climate variables on the relationship between principals’ leadership and school effectiveness; (2) study the impacts of school climate on leadership of the principals of the primary schools in Samut Sakhon Primary Educational Service Area Office; and (3) study the influences of school climate factors affecting school effectiveness. The samples were 53 teachers and 1060 students in Grade 6, enrolled in 2018 academic year, selected by a multi-stage random sampling technique, due to the hierarchical nature of the two groups of population from which the samples were drawn. The instruments used for data collection were two forms of self-rating scaled questionnaires. Statistics used for data analysis were percentage, mean, standard deviation, multivariate confirmatory factor analysis, and multi-level structural equation modelling, with Mplus 7.2 Program.

The findings indicated that the multi-level structural equation model was perfectly consistent with empirical data. At the first level (individual) analysis, it was found that the fixed effects of gender of students influenced their learning effectiveness, evidenced by mean score of female students was higher than that of male students. There was no significant impact of family backgrounds on students’ learning, while level of students’ morality positively influenced their learning effectiveness. For the random effects analysis, it was found that variation value of learning effectiveness was statistically significant, indicating that there was different learning achievement among students. At the second level (school) analysis, it was found that the fixed effects of moderating variable, school climate, insignificantly exerted its influence on the relationship of principals’ leadership and school effectiveness. There was no difference of school climate variation, while the principals’ leadership positively influenced the school effectiveness, and school climate positively affected the principals’ leadership. For a random effects analysis, there was a statistically significance of variation value of school effectiveness, indicating the differences of effectiveness among schools. In addition, it was also found that the variation value of school climate was statistically significant, suggesting the differences of school climate among primary schools under study.