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Developing a questionnaire on attitude towards school

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Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to develop a questionnaire to assess student attitudes towards school by describing the factors that affect these attitudes. For this purpose, a sample of 362 (11–13 years-old) elementary-school students was used. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were carried out. The questionnaire consists of six factors (Belongingness to School, School Image, Loneliness at School, Teaching, Testing and Feedback-Giving Activities, and Reluctance). When data were tested via structural equation modelling, examination of fit indices indicated that the model came close to fitting the data with goodness-of-fit coefficients at recommended levels. The School Attitude Questionnaire was found to be suitable in the light of the findings of our study, and its scales are thought to affect students’ attitudes towards school.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to many people, the students who participated, my colleagues Dr. Şevki Kömür, and Dr. Sabahattin Deniz for their encouragement and contributions. I would also like to extend my thanks for the anonymous reviewers, the Regional Editor, Administrative Assistant (Research) Trudy Tanner and Editor-in-Chief Professor Barry Fraser of LER for their informative suggestions and comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Muğla University, 48100, Muğla, Turkey

    Hasan Şeker

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  1. Hasan Şeker
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Correspondence to Hasan Şeker.

Appendices

Appendices

Appendix 1 Factor loadings and communality from exploratory factor analysis for two samples
Full size table

Appendix 2

School Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ) items

Please read the following items, choose a response, and write it in the space against each item.

  1. 1

    I strongly agree

  2. 2

    I agree

  3. 3

    I partially agree

  4. 4

    I disagree

  5. 5

    I strongly disagree

Teaching

  1. 1.

    I share my learning problems easily. (Question 3)

  2. 2.

    Students are provided help in learning activities. (Question 4)

  3. 3.

    I do not feel bored with the lessons. (Question 21)

School image

  1. 4.

    I feel lucky that I am a student of this school. (Question 9)

  2. 5.

    It is a privilege to study in this school. (Question 8)

  3. 6.

    I adequately make use of the services given at school. (Question 11)

  4. 7.

    I wish I were a student of another school. (Question 13)

Loneliness at school

  1. 8.

    I feel lonely in the classroom. (Question 18)

  2. 9.

    I am not able to have a healthy communication with my teachers. (Question19)

  3. 10.

    Teachers are only interested in hardworking students. (Question 15)

Testing and feedback

  1. 11.

    Opportunities for questioning and criticising are provided. (Question 6)

  2. 12.

    Students’ mistakes are corrected without offending them. (Question 38)

  3. 13.

    Exams measure my real success. (Question 49)

  4. 14.

    Exam questions are clear and understandable. (Question 50)

Reluctance

  1. 15.

    Communication within the family makes me feel less positive towards school. (Question 27)

  2. 16.

    My family consider my going to school unnecessary. (Question 28)

  3. 17.

    Negative attitudes of the people in my close circle towards school negatively affect my eagerness. (Question 23)

  4. 18.

    My efforts are being overlooked and this decreases my interest to study. (Question 31)

  5. 19.

    I feel as if I am out of the activities in most of the courses. (Question 32)

  6. 20.

    I cannot participate in many courses. (Question 43)

Belongingness

  1. 21.

    I do not want to go to school. (Question 12)

  2. 22.

    I do not feel that I belong to this school. (Question 35)

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Şeker, H. Developing a questionnaire on attitude towards school. Learning Environ Res 14, 241–261 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-011-9096-9

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