Perceptions of Classroom Psychosocial Environment in Higher Education

Over the past 25 years the psychosocial environment of elementary and secondary level classrooms has been the subject of much research and a number of instruments have been developed for assessing student and teacher perceptions of actual and preferred classroom environment. Research with these instruments has revealed that students preferred a more favorable climate than they perceived as being present and teachers perceived the actual classroom environment more favorably than did their students. To date, very little analogous research has been conducted at the level of higher education. The present study examined student and instructor perceptions of actual classroom climate and student perceptions of the preferred classroom climate using the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI; Treagust & Fraser, 1986a, 1986). Subjects were 103 graduate and undergraduate university students and 15 university instructors. Results of the present research revealed significant differences between students\u27 perception s of the actual classroom environment and the type of class room environment students preferred. Contrary to previous research findings, the data generated from this study revealed no significant differences between the perception s of students and instructors regarding the actual class room environment. Other results indicated that female students preferred a greater emphasis on the Student Cohesiveness scale of the CUCEI than did male students and that younger student s preferred more Personalization, Individualization, and Involvement in their classes than did older students. Other findings were that graduate students perceived more Student Cohesiveness in classes than was perceived by undergraduate students and students in education classes generally perceived a more positive class room environment than did students in psychology and sociology classes. Implications of the results and practice applications are discussed