Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine associations between students' perceptions of the classroom learning environment, the cultural background of students and their attitudinal and achievement outcomes. A sample of 3994 students from 182 secondary school science and mathematics classes in 35 schools completed a survey including the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI), an attitude to class scale and questions relating to cultural background. The sample was chosen carefully so as to be representative, though only coeducational classes were to be used in order to permit an unconfounded test of gender differences. Achievement on internal school benchmark assessment tests were used as student outcome measures. Statistical analyses has confirmed the reliability and validity of the QTI for secondary school science and mathematics students.