The goal of this study is to examine the school climate of a Chinese school in Beijing. The School Climate Inventory (SCI) focuses on seven dimensions of a school climate: goal orientations, innovation, structured leadership, supportive leadership, teacher participation in decision making, formal relations among staff and informal relations among staff. The SCI is partly self-developed and partly adapted from existing instruments that have been used in Western school settings. Earlier studies have defined the following factors to be important for school climate: goal orientations (staessens, 1990), innovation (Maslowski, 2001), structured and supportive leadership behavior (Hoy & Tarter, 1997), teacher participation in decision making (Devos et al., 2007), formal and informal relations among teachers and staff (Staessens, 1990; Hoy & Tarter, 1997). Organizational commitment of teachers and teacher well-being are often considered as outcomes of a school climate (Aelterman et al., 2002). In an earlier study teacher well-being is defined as “a positive emotional state that is the result of a harmony between the sum of specific context factors on the one hand and the personal needs and expectations towards the school on the other hand” (Engels, Aelterman, Van Petegem, & Schepens, 2004). The affective domain is regarded as an important factor in teacher well-being in a school system (Van Petegem et al., 2005). The research questions of this study are three-fold: 1) Can the School Climate Inventory be validated for measuring school climate in the Chinese context? 2) What are the features of school climate in the Chinese context? 3) What is the relationship between the school climate and teacher commitment and well-being?

The School Climate Inventory was first tested with a pilot sample of 35 teachers from a Chinese school. After this pilot study, data from a representative sample of 136 participants, including primary teachers (n=53), secondary teachers (n=65), and administrative staff (n=18) from a Chinese school in Beijing were collected using the School Climate Inventory and the scales on teacher organizational commitment and well-being. Respondents indicate the extent to which the statements characterize their school or themselves on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1=completely not true; 5=very true).

The School Climate Inventory was validated with the pilot study. The results of this study revealed some specific features of the school climate of the examined Chinese school. The school features a high goal orientation and innovativeness. The teachers report a rather high score for organizational commitment and formal relations among teachers, however, the scores for teacher participation in decision making, and informal relations among teachers are relatively lower. The relationship between school climate and teacher commitment and well-being is analyzed and discussed. The findings of this paper provide important information for analyzing and understanding school climate in the Chinese context. It can enrich the theory related to school climate and the research findings that have been identified in the Western settings.