The Effect of School Climate on Secondary School Students' Critical Thinking Dispositions

The aim of this study is to determine the critical thinking disposition levels of middle school students and their perceptions of school climate to examine the effect of gender on these variables and to analyze the predictive power of school climate sub-dimensions on critical thinking disposition. The study was conducted with 162 7th- and 8th-grade middleschool students. To measure students’ critical thinking disposition levels, the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale was used, while the School Climate Scale was employed to assess their perceptions of school climate. The study adopted a relational survey model. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent samples t-tests, and multiple linear regression analyses. Findings indicate that school climate is at a moderate level, while critical thinking disposition is at a high level in both grade levels. Gender does not create a significant difference in school climate perception for either grade level. However, 7th-grade female students have higher critical thinking disposition levels compared to male students, with a moderate effect size. For 8th-grade students, no significant difference in critical thinking disposition was observed based on gender. According to the multiple linear regression analysis, the sub-dimensions of school climate are moderate or low-level significant predictors of critical thinking disposition in both seventh and 8th grades. The school climate sub-dimensions explain 25% of the variance in critical thinking disposition for 7th graders and 19% for 8th graders. These findings suggest that students’ perceptions of school climate play a role in enhancing their critical thinking disposition levels. The results are discussed in the context of the literature, and recommendations are provided. Cite this article as: Tokgöz, E. Ö., & Ağın, E. (2025). School climate on secondary school students’ critical thinking dispositions. HAYEF: Journal of Education, 22, 0001, doi: 10.5152/ hayef.2025.25001.