Building Conducive School Climate

Tutut Sholihah

IAIN Palangkaraya, Jl. G. Obos, Palangkaraya, Indonesia

Keywords: Building, climate, School, Conducive

Abstract: This paper is aimed at examining conceptually the efforts to build conducive school climate based on

religious character culture. Conducive school climate is a condition and atmosphere of school climate with

all supporting components both human resources and existing facilities to provide safety and convenient

experience for all school residents with various activities both material and spiritual. Building conducive

school climate is a maximum effort for school residents to create a harmonious education and learning

climate actualized in the form of a safety feeling, convenient, family climate as a supporting factor for the

process of learning activities, which is effective, efficient, and productive. Building a conducive school

climate can be realized through the effort to create safety feeling, comfortable and beautifully. It is an

environmental condition providing school atmosphere with high effectiveness. Meanwhile, the religious

characters becoming the foundation of conducive school climate are: 1) faith, 2) devotion, 3) honesty, 4)

modeling, 5) democratic atmosphere, 6) care, 7) openness, 8) togetherness, 9) safety, 10) orderly, 11)

cleanness, 12) politeness, 13) beauty, and 14) health.

1 INTRODUCTION

All efforts undertaken by school management to

improve education quality are already existed. It

produces a lot of results. This is a form of awareness

owned by the education managers in facing the

recent issues. One way to improve schooling

education quality is to maintain and manage school

climate in order to be conducive. The conducive

school climate can be achieved through the

realization of safety feeling, comfortable and

beautifully. It is an orderly environment condition

providing school atmosphere with high

effectiveness.Therefore, the important role of

principal leadership is strongly needed. Conducive

school is a school enabling to provide safety feeling,

comfortable for school citizens. To create safety

feeling and comfortable, the construction must be

strong, according to applicable standards; beautiful

shape, air circulation and light safety for health,

furniture size and its placement are safe to health.

School has fire extinguishers, school guards, fences,

far from immorality and insecurity places. The

orderly schools are schools implementing the rules

indiscriminately, able to create discipline of school

citizens well. Based on the above consideration, the

writer wants to deeply investigate on: how to build

conducive school climate?

2 DISCUSSION

2.1 Definition of Conducive School

Climate

Conceptually, the environment climate or

atmosphere at school is defined as a set of attributes

giving color or character, spirit, ethos, inner

atmosphere of every school (Fisher & Fraser, 1990;

Tye, 1974). Operationally, as well as the meaning of

climate onweather,school climate can be seen from

factors such as curriculum, facilities, principal

leadership, and classroom learning climates.Several

other explanationson school climatehaving similar

meaning are put forth below. Hoy and Miskel (1987)

formulated the meaning of school climate as

teachers' perceptions on theschool work climate in

general. De Roche (1985) proposes climate climate

as the inter-personal relationships, social and

cultural factors influencing individual and group

behavior within the school climate. According to

Litwin and Stringer (in Gunbayi, 2007: 1) the

school climateis defined as varied by experts as the

Sholihah, T.

Building Conducive School Climate.

DOI: 10.5220/0009016400002297

In Proceedings of the Borneo International Conference on Education and Social Sciences (BICESS 2018), pages 56-60

ISBN: 978-989-758-470-1

result of subjective perceptions on formal system,

the principal's informal style, and other important

environment factors influencing attitudes, beliefs,

values and motivations of individual at school.

However, the definition variation on school climate

when deeply examined, conical to three meanings.

First, the school climate is defined as school

personality distinguishing it from other schools.

Second, school climate is defined as an atmosphere

in the workplace, encompassing various complex

norms, values, expectations, policies, and

proceduresaffecting individual and group behavior

patterns. Third, the school climate is defined as

individual perceptions of activities, practices, and

procedures as well as perceptions of behaviors that

are valued, supported and expected within an

organization.According to Hoy, Smith and

Sweetland (in Milner and Khoza, 2008: 158), school

climate is understood as a manifestation of school

personality that can be evaluated continuously from

open to closed school climate. Open school climate

is based on respect, trust and honesty, and provides

opportunities for teachers, school management and

learners, to engage constructively and cooperatively

each others. Sorenson and Goldsmith (2008: 30)

view school climate as the collective personality of

school. Therefore the core of school climate is how

we treat each other. Cohen et.al. (in Pinkus, 2009:

14) describes the school climate as the quality and

character of school life, based on student behavior

patterns, parents and school personnel experience of

school life reflecting norms, goals, values,

interpersonal relationships, learning and teaching

practices , as well as organization structure .

The concept of school climate as an atmosphere

in place refers to the following opinions. Moos

(1979: 81) defines school climate as the setting of

social atmosphere or learning climate. Moos divides

social climate into three categories, namely 1)

Relationships, including involvement, affiliation

with others in the classroom, and teacher support; 2)

Personal growth or goal orientation, including

personal development and self-improvement of all

climate members; and 3) System maintenance and

system changes, including orderly from the climate,

clarity of the rules, and the seriousness of teacher in

enforcing the rules. Wenzkaff (in Cherubini, 2008:

40) suggests a school climate informs the

atmosphere in classrooms, meeting rooms, offices,

and every path in the school. Based on the opinion

of experts on organizational climate as stated earlier,

it can be concluded that school climate is a

collective perception on the quality and character of

school life. Meanwhile, the meaning of conducive is

safety feeling and convenient felt by someone in a

place and at a time psychically or psychologically.

Thus it can be concluded that conducive school

climate is the condition and atmosphere school

climate with all the supporting components either in

the form of human resources or facilities and

infrastructure provided safety feeling and convenient

to all school citizens with all its activities both

material and spiritual.

2.2 The Urgency of Conducive School

Climate

A description of the urgency of conducive school

climate is based on the impact emerged, referring to

various research results. Cohen et.al. (2009) explain,

over the past three decades there have been

tremendous research growths proving the

importance of school climate. Research has shown

that positive school climate has a direct impact on

school success such as low dropout students; reduce

crime rate, and student achievement increases.

Freiberg (in Marshall, 2002: 1) confirms the school

climate can be a positive influence on health of

learning climate or significant barriers to learning.

Referring to various research results, Marshall

(2002: 2) gives some conclusions about the

importance of school climate for various parties, as

follows: a. School climate can affect many people in

school. For example, a positive school climate has

been linked to the emotions and behaviors of

students with problems. b. School climate in urban

area having high-risk shows that a positive,

supportive, and cultural awareness of school climate

can shape the success of urban students in achieving

academic degrees. c. The researchers also found that

a positive school climate provides protection for

children with a supportive learning climate and

prevents from antisocial behavior. d. Positive

interpersonal relationships and optimal learning

opportunities for students in all demographic

environments can improve performance and reduce

maladaptive behavior.

In general, it can be described about the urgency

of a conducive school climate, namely: 1) Positive

school climate closely related with increasing job

satisfaction for school personnel. School climate can

play an important role in providing a healthy and

positive school climate. 2) The interaction of various

schools and classroom climate factors can provide

supports allowing all members of school community

to teach and learn optimally. 3) The school climate,

including "trust, respect, mutual understanding of

duties, and concern for other well-being, has a

Building Conducive School Climate

strong influence on educators and learners,

relationships among learners, as well as academic

achievement and overall school progress. 4) A

positive school climate is a rich environment, for

personal growth and academic success.

These benefits are not only felt in the school

environment but also anywhere. Since, it is shaped

by personal norms and not by rigid rules with

various penalties in case of violations committed. In

addition to some benefits above, other urgencies in

shaping the conducive school climate for individuals

(individuals) and groups of schoolchildren are: 1)

Increasing job satisfaction, 2) Making more intimate

association, 3) Increasing Discipline, 4) Lightering

functional supervision, 5) Having a desire to be

always proactive, 6) Increasing spirit of learning and

continuously achievement , and; 7) Always want to

give the best for school, family, others and self.

2.3 Cultivating Religious Character in

School Climate

Creating an atmosphere or conducive school climate,

at the same time, also needs to be implanted cultural

and religious character as a strong foundation of

school climate. The religious characters needed to be

instilled when building a conducive school climate

are: 1) Faith. Faith greatly affects one's behavior.

The faith needs to be nurtured and grown according

to their beliefs. With the faith, it is expected that

every learner develop by himself becoming a man

having noble character. 2) Devotion. The devotion

should be instilled early to students entering the

school through various activities. Basically the

quality of man is determined by his/ her devotion.

Devotion is a reflection of the faith values in the

form of manifest behavior in running the religious

orders and religious prohibitions. 3) Honesty. In

many things, honest behavior and responsibility

attitude must be realized and developed so that they

become a part of everyday life. Whether it is related

to God or self and others. Honesty and assertive

behavior must be implemented. 4) Modeling.

Modeling or Exemplary is to give an example

through real behavior or concrete action, because

exemplification is more important than giving a

verbal lesson. The school principal can give

modeling/ exemplary to teachers and employees and

then the teacher to students, as well as seniors to

juniors. 5) Democratic atmosphere. The

atmosphere of school should be an atmosphere

showing freedom of expression and appreciate the

differences in accordance with democratic

politeness. The existence of democratic atmosphere

in school environment will give effect on the

behavior development and mutual respect each

other. 6) Concern. Concern is manifested with

empathy and advising each other, telling and

reminding each other, caring for and protecting each

other so that any problems can be solved quickly and

easily. 7) Openness. An open management system

will eliminate suspicion and slander. This should be

practiced by school principals, administrators,

teachers and students. 8) Togetherness.

Togetherness is directed to strengthen the

relationship among school citizens so thatan

atmosphere of brotherhood in a harmonious school

relationship can be realized. 9) Security. Security is

a fundamental capital to create a harmonious and

funny school atmosphere. School residents should be

proactive to anticipate and overcome all forms of

interference from outside and inside the school

environment. Security is the responsibility of all

school residents. 10) Orderly. In all matters in the

school, orderly is a condition reflecting the harmony

and regularity in the association among school

residents. Orderly is not created by itself but it must

be pursued by every school citizen. 11) Cleanliness.

A clean, tidy and refreshing atmosphere

continuously will give the students an impression of

feeling fun. Cleanliness includes physical and

psychological, physical and mental. 12) Health.

Health concerns physical and psychological aspects.

This should be sought and done by all the school

citizens. 13) Beauty. The school environment, office

room, teachers' room, classrooms, library, school

yard and orderly school garden looks beautiful with

pleasant impression and art. The beauty of the

school must be created and maintained continuously

by the school citizens in order not to fade away so

that the school climate always be fresh, remain

active and fun. 14) Manners. Manners are attitudes

and behaviors in accordance with customs or norms

prevailing in society in relation to self, family,

school and community.

The school environment is a distinct form of

society, in contrast to communities outside the

school environment. The community of the school

environment consists of principals, teachers,

administrators and learners with social interactions

having a very clear purpose, that is, learning.

Therefore, the school community can be said as a

learning society with certain levels, which are not

found in ordinary society. The activities in the

school take place in the same patterns, repetitive

activities and arranged with a tight schedule. The

atmosphere of school life needs to be established

together by the school citizens according to their

BICESS 2018 - Borneo International Conference On Education And Social

function and position. Principals, administrators,

teachers and learners can contribute to the coaching

of virtuous life through their attitudes and behaviors

at school.

2.4 Conducive School Climate

Measurement Dimension

Many researchers have identified various

dimensions to measure school climate. One of them,

according to Gunbayi (2007: 2), is Halpin& Croft

(1963), who propose eight dimensions of

organizational climate. Four of them focus on

teacher behavior, namely disengagement, hindrance,

esprit and intimacy. Four other dimensions focus on

school principal behavior, namely aloofness,

production, trust, and consideration. In 1968,

Harvard Business identified six dimensions of

school climate: flexibility, responsibility, standards,

rewards, clarity and team commitment. Schneider in

1983 proposed six organizational climate

dimensions: organizational support, member quality,

openness, supervisory style, and member conflict

and autonomy members. In 1996, Hoy, Hofman,

Sabo and Bliss (in Gunbayi, 2007: 2) describe six

dimensions of school climate, which classified into

two aspects: behavioral aspects of school principal

and teacher behavioral aspects. The three

dimensions of measured school principal behavior

are: supportive, directive, and restrictive, while the

three dimensions of measured teacher behavior are:

collegial, committed, and disengaged.The three

school principal behaviors supporting the creation of

conducive school climate are: First, supportive is the

behavior of school principals directed to social needs

and job performance. The principal should be

helpful, really cares about teachers, and seek to

motivate teachers by using constructive criticism

and by modeling through hard work. Second,

directive is a rigid principal's behavior. The school

principal constantly monitors almost all aspects of

teacher’s behavior in school. Third, restrictive

behavior is the school principal limiting teacher’s

work rather than facilitating it. The school principal

burdens teachers with administrative work, and other

requests that interfere teaching responsibilities.

In addition, the three teachers’ behaviors that can

support the creation of conducive school climate are:

First, collegial is an open behavior teacher and

supports the interaction among teachers in a

professional manner, such as mutual respect and

help each other both personally and professionally.

Second, committed is the teachers’ behavior that

directed to assist students in developing intellectual

and social skills. Teachers work extra hard to ensure

students’ success at school. Third, disengaged is a

teacher behavior that is less focused and meaningful

for professional activities.

Cohen, et.al. (inPinkus, 2009: 14), describes the

measurement of school climate into 10 dimensions,

which is classified into four categories: 1) safety, 2)

teaching and learning, 3) interpersonal relationships,

and 4) institutional climate.The first category, safety

consists of: a) rules and norms, including the

existence of clearly communicated and consistently

executed rules; b) physical safety includes the

feelings of students and parents who feel safe from

physical harm at school; and c) social and emotional

security includes the feelings of students who feel

safe from scorn, satire, and exceptions.The second

category, teaching and learning consist of: a) support

for learning, showing support for teaching practices,

such as positive and constructive responses, risk-

taking, academic challenges, individual interest, and

opportunities to demonstrate knowledge and skills in

various ways; and b) social and civic learning,

showing support for the development of knowledge,

social skill and society including effective listening,

problem solving, reflection, responsibility and

ethical decision. The third category, interpersonal

relationships consist of: a) respect for diversity,

differences between individuals in all levels, That is,

between students and students; parents and students;

and parents with parents; b) social support adults,

showing mutual trust and relationships between

parents and parents to support students related with

their high hopes for success, wishing to hear, and for

personal caring; and c) social support students,

indicating a network connection to support students'

academic and personal activities.The fourth

category, the institutional climate consists of: a)

school connectedness / engagement, encompassing

positive ties with schools, having ownership feeling,

and general norms to participate in school life for

students and families; and b) physical surroundings,

including cleanliness, orderliness and appeal of

facilities and adequate resources and materials.

The result of MagfirahHafsari’ study (2006)

about the influence of culture and school

organization climate on student achievement

motivation of Sales Skill Program: a study at the

third grade students of SMK Negeri 1 Malang

revealed that: (1). School organizational culture can

influence school organizational climate based on

perception of the third grade students of Sales skill

program at SMK Negeri 1 Malang; (2) School

organizational culture can influence significantly to

the student achievement motivation at the third

Building Conducive School Climate

grade students of Sales skill program at SMK Negeri

1 Malang; (3) Climate of school organization can

influence significantly to the student achievement

motivation at the third grade students of Sales skill

program at SMK Negeri 1 Malang, (4) Culture and

climate of school organization can simultaneously

influence significantly to the students’ achievement

motivation at the third grade students of Sales skill

program at SMK Negeri 1 Malang.

3 CONCLUSIONS

Conducive school climate is the condition and

school environment atmosphere with all the

supporting components both in the form of human

resources and existing facilities and infrastructure

providing safety feeling and convenient to all school

citizens with all activities both physical and mental.

Building conducive school climate is the maximum

effort for all school residents to create environment

education, and learning climate that actualized in the

form of safety feeling and convenient, family

atmosphere, which is a supporting factor for the

implementation of effective, efficient, and

productive teaching and learning activities. Schools

have fire extinguishers, school guards, fences, avoid

from immorality and insecurity places. Orderly

Schools are schools that apply the rules

indiscriminately, able to create discipline of school

citizens as well. The religious characters that can be

the foundation of conducive school climate are: 1)

Faith, 2) devotion, 3) honesty, 4)

modeling/exemplary, 5) democratic atmosphere, 6)

caring, 7) openness, 8) togetherness, 9) security, 10)

orderly, 11) cleanliness, 12) courtesy, 13) beauty,

and 14) health. By establishing conducive school

climate based on religious values, the school climate

becomes a safe place, comfortable and friendly

place for students to be calm and warm in learning.

One of the efforts to create harmony is by

familiarizing a strong greeting culture without

differentiating the tribe, religion, and intergroup so

that it builds a systematic manners and can build

akhlaqulkarimah (good behavior) as modeled by the

Prophet Muhammad SAW.

REFERENCES

Efendi Hatta, Iklim Sekolah (School Climate), 21 Juli

2010, [available] http://efendihatta.blogspot.co.id/,

[Online] Wednesday, 4 April 2018:12.29.

IlhanGunbayi, School Climate and Teachers’ Perceptions

on Climate Factors: Research Into Nine Urban High

Schools. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational

Technology (TOJET), 2007, 6(3).1-10. [Online].

MagfirahHafsari,

PengaruhBudayadanIklimOrganisasiSekolahTerhadap

MotivasiBerprestasiSiswa Program KeahlianPenjualan

(StudiPadaSiswa Tingkat 3 SMK Negeri 1 Malang).

Skripsi, JurusanManajemen Program StudiPendidikan

Tata NiagaUniversitasNegeri Malang, 2006.

http://www.pdfgeni.com/book/,

MakalahKebersihanLingkunganSekolah, jurnal

pdf.html 15 November 2011:09:01.

WahyuMirza, IklimSekolah, 25 April 2011, [available]

http://wahyumirza.blogspot.co.id/, [Online]

Wednesday, 11 April 2018:08.59.

Moh.KamilusZaman, SekolahKondusif, Monday, 06

April 2015:03.56, [available ]

http://kamiluszaman.blogspot.co.id/, [Online]

Tuesday, 4 April 2018:12.55.

BICESS 2018 - Borneo International Conference On Education And Social