Background: The quality of the classroom environment, as conceptualised and measured through the construct of classroom climate, focuses on the social and psychological interactions among its members which have been found to be related to students' academic achievement and reduced emotional problems. Aims: With regard to the limited data concerning the relevant Greek literature, the present study examined the possible relations between primary students' perceptions of the quality of their classroom psychosocial environment as measured using My Class Inventory and the evaluation of their "overall" performance by their teachers. Factors such as school district, urban and rural and grade level, fifth and sixth, were also taken into account. Sample: 268 students, 142 in the fifth grade and 126 in the sixth grade, from 14 classes in 7 primary schools from three primary geographical regions in Greece and their teachers (N = 14), participated in the study. Method: Questionnaires were completed by students in their classrooms during the lesson hour and teachers recorded their evaluation of each student performance on their questionnaire. Analyses of variance (ANOVA), t-test and Pearson r correlations were conducted. Results: Research findings showed that competitiveness is prevalent in Greek classrooms. Especially in metropolitan urban schools, "excellent" students experience high levels of friction as they strive to succeed academically. Students' satisfaction was positively related to cohesion and negatively to friction and difficulty, in most of the cases. Conclusion: It seems that traditional perspectives in evaluation methods used by teachers and the focus on academic achievement as well as modern life conditions in metropolitan urban settings influence students' sense of competitiveness and friction in the classroom. The application of more refined and systematic evaluation techniques with regard to students' overall performance and the enhancement of cooperative and social learning could boost students' self esteem, cohesion and satisfaction in the classroom. (Contains 3 tables.)