From connections to achievements: investigating the influence of school climate and school membership on adolescent students’ academic achievement

Abstract This study investigates the associations between perceptions of school climate, psychological sense of school membership, and academic achievement among adolescent students attending public secondary schools in Türkiye. Drawing from a comprehensive dataset comprising responses from 1033 students, the study employs path analysis to explore the interrelationships among the variables. The findings show significant associations between various dimensions of school climate, including teacher-student relations and student-student relations, and academic achievement. Moreover, sense of school belonging and feeling of rejection act as partial mediators in the link between peer interactions and academic achievement while fully mediating the relationship between fairness of school rules and academic achievement. These results highlight the importance of nurturing positive school environments and cultivating students’ psychological sense of belonging to improve academic outcomes among adolescent learners. Through its findings, this study contributes to the scholarly discourse on adolescent education and well-being by offering valuable insights for educators, policymakers, and researchers alike.