An examination of the relationship between middle school students' perceptions of school life quality and lifelong learning tendencies

In this study, it was aimed to investigate school life quality perceptions and lifelong learning tendencies of secondary school students in terms of gender, grade level and school type variables. The population of the study consists of fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade students attending secondary schools in Hendek District of Sakarya Province in 2017-2018 academic year. In this context, the sample of the study consists of 640 students (287 male, 353 female) who are studying in 9 schools in the same district. The relationship between school life quality and sub-dimensions and lifelong learning variables was examined. In the analysis of the data, it was first examined whether Kolmogrov-Simirnov and Shapiro Wilk normality tests were used. Since the results obtained were not normal, the differences between the groups according to gender, grade level and school types in terms of school life quality and sub-dimensions and lifelong learning variables were evaluated by Mann-Whitney U test in paired groups. In groups with more than two, Kruskal-Wallis test was used. In the analysis of the relationship between school life quality and lifelong learning tendency, the analysis was performed using Spearman Rho coefficient because the data was not distributed normally. In order to measure the school life quality of the participants, 35-item School Quality of Life Scale (ASQQ) developed by Sarı (2007) was used. In order to measure the Lifelong Learning Levels of the participants, the 17-item Lifelong Learning Trends Scale (YSSS) developed by Erdoğan and Arsal (2015) was used. In the scope of the research; The school life quality levels of the students were examined according to the variables of gender, grade level and school type and significant differences were observed in terms of all variables. As a result of the analysis of lifelong learning tendencies in terms of the same variables, significant differences were found in terms of gender and grade level, but no significant difference was found in the school type variable. The study found a moderate positive and significant relationship between school quality of life and lifelong learning. Lifelong learning tendency was examined in terms of the sub-dimensions of school life quality. It was concluded that there was a positive, moderate and meaningful relationship with the Teachers, Emotions to School, School Administration and Status sub-dimensions except the Students sub-dimension. The same result was reached between the openness to development and the willingness to learn, which are the sub-dimensions of lifelong learning in terms of school life quality. The findings were discussed within the scope of the literature and suggestions were made.