Do perceptions of being treated fairly increase students’ outcomes? Teacher–student interactions and classroom justice in Italian adolescents

Abstract

In this study, we have investigated the associations between the students’ perceptions of teachers’ interpersonal behaviour and some school outcomes – namely, academic achievement, learning motivation, and a sense of class belonging – considering the mediating role of classroom justice. Moreover, the impact of the school type was analysed. The research was performed on a population of 614 Italian students enrolled in 2 different types of secondary school, one with an academic orientation, the other with a vocational orientation. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to see the effect of the teachers’ behaviour on the dimensions of justice (i.e., equality, equity, needs, and interpersonal) and that of all these variables on academic achievement, learning motivation, and class belonging. The mediation role of classroom justice was confirmed by the analyses, and so was the impact of the school's orientation. Limitations to the study and future research ideas have also been outlined.

Keywords:

• classroom justice
• questionnaire on teacher interpersonal behaviour
• learning motivation
• class belonging

Notes

To be sure that the immigrant students' knowledge of Italian was good enough to understand and answer the questionnaire, we did not process the questionnaires filled in by immigrants who had arrived in Italy less than 6 years before (n = 32). After this cut-off, 60 out of 312 students attending the vocational school (19.8%) were not native Italians, a percentage that is about 4 points higher as compared to that of the total student population in Italy. An analysis of variance conducted on the measures used in the current study showed no differences between Italian and immigrant students enrolled in the vocational school.

The Italian version of the questionnaire has been validated by the authors. The manuscript is currently under evaluation.

As indicated by the authors, Influence and Proximity were computed as follows (with the numbers before the scale labels representing the factor loadings): Influence = 0.92*leadership + 0.38*helpful/friendly − 0.38*understanding − 0.92*student freedom − 0.92*uncertain − 0.38*dissatisfied + 0.38*admonishing + 0.92*strict; Proximity = 0.38*leadership + 0.92*helpful/friendly + 0.92*understanding + 0.38*student freedom − 0.38*uncertain − 0.92*dissatisfied − 0.92*admonishing − 0.38*strict. In agreement with the literature, the two dimensions did not correlate (r = .02, p > .50).

The procedure used in this study satisfied the ethical requirements defined by APA manual 6th edition, and the study was conducted in compliance with an Internal Review Board.

We also tested the model with perception of justice mediated by QTI and the model without the mediation of perception of justice. The first was not significant [χ²(42) = 109.48 (High school = 48.60; Vocational school = 60.88), p = .000; CFI = .94, TLI = .91; RMSEA = .08, SRMR = .05], while the second was slightly weaker as compared to the model described in this paper [χ²(6) = 11.20 (High school = 0.70; Vocational school = 10.50), p = .08; CFI = .99, TLI = .97; RMSEA = .05, SRMR = .03].