School climate, social identity processes and school outcomes: Making the case for a group-level approach to understanding schools

An import ant area of inquiry within the educa tional domain concerns school climate and related concepts such as school connec ted ness and school belong ing (e.g., Thapa, Cohen, Higgins­D'Alessandro and Guffey, 2013). School climate is defined in differ ent ways, but in essence, it focuses on student percep tions of academic emphasis, the way groups within a school (e.g., teach ers, students, parents) relate to one another, and the higher­ order norms, values, and prac tices (shared mission) that define the school as a whole (Thapa et al., 2013). In this chapter, we argue that incor por at ing a social­ psycho lo gical analysis of the group within the school climate domain can advance under stand ing of school life. To date, most emphasis is placed on the psycho logy of indi vidu als­ as­individuals and inter per sonal rela tion ships. What is missing is an analysis of the group.