The Classroom Climate and the Role of Teachers’ Mentalized Affectivity: Mediation Through Job and Life Satisfaction

The classroom climate is a multidimensional construct that embraces didactic practices, relational quality, shared norms, discipline, and a sense of belonging. A positive classroom climate conveys to students and teachers a feeling of safety and promotes a learning environment characterized by engagement, mutual respect, warmth, and a shared school vision. The current study, embracing the Prosocial Classroom Theoretical Model, aims to understand whether teachers’ socio-emotional competencies in terms of mentalized affectivity would affect their perception of the classroom climate via subjective dimensions of well-being in terms of life and job satisfaction. A total of 338 female teachers [M (SD) = 47.11 (10.17) years]—50.9% primary and 49.1% lower secondary education [M (SD)years of experience = 17.79 (11.62)]—completed an e-survey. We tested a parallel mediation model in which teachers’ mentalized affectivity served as the potential personal resource for improving the classroom climate through the mediating role of job and life satisfaction. School grade and teaching experience were used as covariates. Results highlighted significant total, direct, and indirect effects. Although the cross-sectional design of the study limits causal inference, the preliminary findings are encouraging and may contribute to a better understanding of the resources that support the development of a positive school climate, with potential cascading effects on students’ socio-emotional and academic outcomes.