School climate and culture mind frames—Belonging, identities, and equity: A Delphi study

Abstract

The climate and culture of a school is a key predictor of student engagement, motivation, and achievement. This study investigates ways of detecting educators’ ways of thinking about three major dimensions of culture and climate: developing a sense of belonging, identities, and equity. A Delphi study was used to identify the highest priority mindframes. For the first round, 25 mindframes were identified, and 47 experts were invited to rate and comment. In the second round, 82 experts responded to a reduced set of 19 items. This study shows the core elements of how educators see the culture and climate of their schools and classrooms, and the resulting set of questions can be used to foster further dialogue and improvements to schools.