The relationship between secondary school students' perceptions of school climate and their burnout levels

This study examined the relationship between secondary school students' perceptions of school climate and their levels of school burnout. The relational screening model, one of the general screening models, was used in the study. The study sample consisted of 500 secondary school students in the provincial center of Düzce. The "Demographic Information Form," the "Delaware School Climate Scale," and the "School Burnout Scale" were used to collect data. Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H, and Spearman Rho correlation analyses were used in the analysis of the data obtained within the scope of the research using SPSS program. According to the results of the research, it was observed that the participating secondary school students' perceptions of the sub-dimensions of teacher-student relationships, student-student relationships, school interest, and the overall school climate were at the level of "I agree." It was observed that their perceptions of the fairness of school rules, one of the sub-dimensions of school climate, were at the level of "I disagree." It was observed that the students' perceptions of the sub-dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment, and the overall school burnout were at the level of "I partly agree." Among the sub-dimensions of school burnout, the dimension perceived at the highest level was "depersonalization", while the dimension perceived at the lowest level was "low personal accomplishment". When difference tests were examined by gender, there were significant differences between the levels of "student-student relationships," "school interest," "general school climate," and "emotional exhaustion." When difference tests were examined by grade level, significant differences were found between "student-student relationships," "school interest," "fairness of school rules," and "general school climate" and "emotional exhaustion," "depersonalization," "low personal accomplishment," and "general school burnout." When difference tests were examined by school type, significant differences were found between the levels of "teacher-student relationships," "school interest," "fairness of school rules," and "depersonalization." When difference tests were examined by perception of success, significant differences were found between the levels of "emotional exhaustion," "low personal accomplishment," and "general school burnout." There is no significant difference between perceptions of school climate and perceptions of success. This study found a negative, statistically significant, and moderate correlation between secondary school students' perceptions of "school climate" and their levels of "school burnout."