Teacher Perceptions of School Environment in Australian Catholic and Government High Schools.

This paper presents findings of a study that compared the school environment in Australian Catholic and government schools. A total of 208 teachers from 32 Queensland secondary schools completed the "Catholic School Environment Questionnaire." The sample included 80 teachers of religion at the Catholic nonorder (coeducational) and the Catholic order (same-sex) schools, and 128 science teachers at both types of Catholic schools and at Australian government schools. The 57-item instrument assessed the seven dimensions of mission consensus, empowerment, student support, affiliation, professional interest, resource adequacy, and work pressure. Catholic order (single-sex) and government coeducational schools had statistically significant differences on two scales: empowerment and mission consensus. Catholic nonorder and order schools had more positive environments than did government schools. Catholic girls' schools had more positive environments than did Catholic boys' schools. Teachers of religion perceived their school environments to have higher empowerment and resource adequacy compared to teachers of science. Finally, there was negligible difference between the school environments in coed and single-sex Catholic schools. Three figures and three tables are included. (Contains 51 references.) (LMI)