The students in my school have severe emotional and behavioral problems and my school has few economic resources — can good relationships really help?

Teacher-student relationships contribute to students’ resiliency. Often, we assume that hard-to-change factors such as class size, teacher experience or availability of instructional supplies are crucial for predicting student achievement. In fact, these factors are not as important as positive relationships. In one study of almost 4,000 poor and minority children, the presence of positive relationships with teachers and the experience of a positive and orderly school environment in elementary and middle school were strong predictors of gains in math outcomes—much stronger than class size, teacher experience, or availability of instructional supplies. In another study, urban high school students with behavior and emotional problems were assigned to an intervention involving weekly interactions with teachers, monthly calls to the students at home, and increased praise from adults. Those students involved in the intervention showed higher grade point averages over the five-month intervention period compared to their peers who were not receiving the intervention (Murray & Malmgren, 2005). Studies like this point to an important message: across ages and in virtually all classrooms, students will be more engaged and motivated if teachers meet students’ essential need for social connection.

How does the importance of the teacher-student relationship compare to other important relationships, such as parent-student relationships, in students’ lives?

From early childhood through adolescence, positive teacher-student relationships appear to complement the other important relationships in students’ lives. For young students, family relationships are more important than teacher-student relationships in predicting students’ adjustment to kindergarten (Pianta, Nimetz, & Bennett, 1997). In middle school students, the perception of their teacher (whether they felt that their teacher was supportive toward them or not) predicted students’ interest in learning and their engagement in the classroom. At this level, parental support plays a complementary role by predicting youths’ motivation in school (Wentzel, 1998). In high school, both parent and teacher supportiveness (combined with parent and teacher monitoring and high expectations) play critical roles in predicting gains in mathematics achievement (Gregory & Weinstein, 2004).

This video clip is of a teacher talking about the complementary role that her relationship with the child and the family plays in managing a child's behavior in the classroom.

What are the factors contributing to positive teacher-student relationships?

Teacher-student relationships are determined by more than one factor: teacher characteristics and student characteristics each play an important role in predicting the quality of interactions that teachers have with individual students. Although less well- studied, other factors (school social climate, school policies, etc.) also contribute to the quality of these relationships.

Will more positive teacher-student relationships improve the peer relationships in my classroom?

Yes, positive teacher-student relationships can promote improved peer relationships in your classrooms through direct and indirect approaches. Teachers can directly promote positive social behaviors by orchestrating the relationships within a classroom in a positive manner (Battistich et al., 2004). Teachers can use positive teacher-student relationships indirectly to promote peer relationships as well. Students tend to be more accepting of peers who show engagement in the tasks of school (e.g., show attention, participate in classroom activities), and positive teacher-student relationships enhance students’ engagement. Positive teacher-student relationships improve student-to-student acceptance in both current and future years (Hughes & Kwok, 2007).

Are positive teacher-student relationships easier to form in some situations than others?

Some situations (such as the elementary school where each teacher is assigned only twenty or so students) provide more opportunities for the development of close teacher-student relationships. Other situations (such as the middle school or high school where teachers routinely provide instruction to four or five groups of twenty-five or more students) make it difficult to form positive teacher-student relationships with all students (Feldlaufer, Midgley, & Eccles, 1988; Meece et al., 2003), and thus, it takes more effort. It is also easier to focus attention on positive teacher-student relationships in schools where the administrators believe that trust and positive relationships are important for improving children’s performance (Bryk & Schneider, 2002).

If teacher-student relationships reflect both characteristics of the teachers and characteristics of the student, how stable are these relationships over time?

The quality of teacher-student relationships is surprisingly stable over time. In other words, if a kindergarten teacher has a conflictual relationship with a student, it is likely that the child’s first and second grade teachers will also experience conflict in their relationship with that same child. This stability is more evident when the relationships are conflictual rather than when the relationships are described as close or dependent (Howes, Phillepsen & Peisner-Feinberg, 2000; Pianta & Stuhlman, 2004). Most likely, the stability stems from the “internal working model” that students create in their mind about how relationships with adults typically ought to work.

Are there any unintended consequences associated with creating positive teacher-student relationships?

Ideally, classroom environments need to be nurturing while at the same time holding students to high academic standards. Classrooms that focus on nurturance without offering opportunities for academic learning do not produce increases in students’ achievement (Lee & Smith, 1999).

Do positive teacher-student relationships work for all school subjects?

Positive teacher-student relationships play an equally important role in students’ success across all subjects (McCombs & Miller, 2006). Students’ social and emotional needs are present throughout the day and the year, regardless of the subject being taught.

How do you evaluate teacher-student relationships?

Several common and readily available instruments have been developed to assess teacher-student relationships. Although used primarily for research, these instruments can also serve as diagnostic tools to identify strengths and weakness in your own teaching. Some of these instruments rely on teacher reports of relationships, others are observationally-based measures of teacher-student interactions in the classroom, and yet others rely on students’ reports of their relationships with teachers. One particularly innovative technique to use with young children relies on children’s drawings of their teachers. For a description of these measures, see "Measures of teacher-student relationships."

There are less formal ways to assess your relationships with children. If you have a particular child with whom you have had a challenging relationship, you might invite a school psychologist into your classroom to observe your interactions, take notes and reflect with you about the child. Alternatively, you can set up a video camera and critique your own interactions with the student who is causing you difficulty. Another strategy is to directly ask your students. You can give them anonymous questionnaires or ask small groups of students about how they feel while they are in your classroom. Through this process, it is important to realize that even the best teachers have difficulties with a few students from time to time. The reasons for these difficulties are numerous and getting help from a collaborating teacher, the school psychologist, or a supportive administrator may offer you an outside view of what is occurring and help you improve your relationships with the challenging students in your classroom.

Are positive teacher-child relationships a “magic bullet”?

No, positive teacher-student relationships are only one part of a teachers’ repertoire of classroom management and discipline strategies. High quality relationships only complement other aspects of classroom management. Furthermore, it is not possible to develop positive relationships with every student. As a teacher, you can strive toward accomplishing that goal but realize that having an ideal relationship with each student may be unobtainable.

How are positive teacher-student relationships linked to classroom climate?

Improving teacher-student relationships constitutes only a first step toward creating a classroom community that is conducive to children’s social and academic development. For more information, see "Teacher-student relationships & classroom climate."

Several student characteristics are risk factors for problematic relationships 

• Boys typically have more conflict and less closeness in their relationships with teachers than girls (Baker, 2006; Blankemeyer, Flannery, & Vazsonyi, 2002; Howes et al., 2000; Hughes, Cavell, & Wilson, 2001). 

• Students with more internalizing problems (e.g., depression, anxiety) show greater dependency on their teachers than their average counterparts (Henricsson & Rydell, 2004), whereas students with more externalizing problems (e.g., aggression, problem behaviors) show more conflict with teachers (Murray & Murray, 2004). 

• Students with problematic relationships with family members tend to have poorer quality relationships with their teachers (O’Connor & McCartney, 2006). 

• Students who exhibit more problem behaviors at home and school tend to develop more conflictual and less close relationships with their teachers (Birch & Ladd, 1998; Murray & Murray, 2004). 

• Students with emotional disturbances or mild mental retardation have more negative relationships with teachers than students without these problems (Murray & Greenberg, 2001). 

• Bold preschool students with poorly developed language skills are perceived by their teachers as having more conflictual relationships. Shy preschool students with better language skills are perceived by their teachers as more dependent upon them (Rudasill et al., 2006). 

• For students at risk for problematic teacher-student relationships, teachers needed to make extra efforts to offer the social and emotional support likely to help them meet the challenges they face in school.

Teachers vary in their ability to create positive teacher-student relationships. Some teachers simply have an easier time developing positive relationships with students — personality, feelings toward students, their own relationship histories may all play a role. A few personal characteristics of teachers have been identified as important predictors of positive teacher-student relationships in elementary schools. Research has found that preschool and kindergarten teachers are more likely to develop close relationships with students who share their same ethnic background Likewise, it was found that Caucasian pre-service teachers working in their 10-week field placement sites perceived African American and Hispanic students as more dependent than these same teachers perceived White students. Asian American and Hispanic preservice teachers perceived African American students as more dependent upon them as compared to Asian American or Hispanic students (Kesner, 2000). Pre-service teachers who recall their own upbringing as caring and nurturing were also more likely to experience closeness with the students in their field placement classrooms (Kesner, 2000). Teachers’ beliefs and the types of practices that teachers prefer appear to also be important. Kindergarten teachers who use fewer didactic and more age-appropriate, student-centered teaching practices reported less conflictual relationships with their kindergarten students (Manticopoulous, 2005). Much less is known about the teacher characteristics that contribute to positive teacher-student relationships at the middle and high school level.

Measures of teacher-student relationships

One teacher-report instrument, designed for elementary school teachers, is the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS); Pianta, 2001). This instrument measures a teacher’s perception of conflict, closeness, and dependency with a specific child. Another instrument, designed for teachers of middle and high school, is the Teacher-Student Relationship Inventory (TSRI) Ang, 2005). It measures teachers’ satisfaction with their students, the help they perceive they are offering to their students, and their level of conflict with their students.

The presence of supportive relationships can be measured in the classroom using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (Pianta, La Paro & Hamre, 2006). This system measures teachers’ sensitivity as well as positive and negative climate in the classroom. Different forms of this instrument can be used for preschool through twelfth grade.

Students’ reports of their relationships with teachers can be assessed in young children with the Feelings about School instrument (Valeski & Stipek, 2001) or by having a child draw a picture of him/herself and his/her teacher at school and analyzing the picture for signs of negativity (Harrison, Clarke, & Ungerer, 2007).  In elementary school, students can be assessed with the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Questionnaire for Young Children (Cassidy & Asher, 1992); in middle school with the Teacher Treatment Inventory (Weinstein & Marshall, 1984); and in high school students with an adapted measure of perceived social connection.

Another set of validated instruments designed for teachers and students are the Assessment of Learner-Centered Practices (ALCP) surveys. These surveys, each designed for a different age group (grades K-3, 4-8, and 9-12), provide teachers with tools for self-assessment and reflection (McCombs, 2004). The emphasis of this work has been to identify discrepancies between teacher and student perceptions in order to assist teachers as they reflect upon and change their practices (McCombs & Miller, 2006). The ALCP process focuses on student learning and motivational outcomes, as well as the classroom practices that contribute most to maximizing these outcomes.  
 

Teacher-student relationships & classroom climate

When first grade teachers use practices that demonstrate caring toward students and practices that foster interpersonal skills among students, students are less likely to reject one another (Donahue et al, 2003). Also, aggressive students who have positive relationships with teachers are more likely to be accepted by peers than aggressive students who lack positive relationships with their teachers (Hughes, Cavell et al., 2001). Ultimately, constructive teacher-student relationships have an important positive influence on the social skills of difficult as well as typical students (Zins, Elias, Greenberg, & Weissberg, 2000). Such findings suggest that enhancing individual teacher-student relationships has beneficial and cumulative effects for other aspects of classroom life.

Improving teacher-student relationships is only the first step toward meeting students’ emotional and relational needs. A teacher should also work on producing a caring community of learners. Such efforts improve the nature of interactions among students and promote students’ engagement in school (Hamre & Pianta, 2005; McCombs, 2004; Meece, 2003; Meece et al., 2003; Weinberger & McCombs, 2003).

Studies have been conducted to examine the effectiveness of interventions designed to create more caring school and classroom communities; each has resulted in specific recommendations for improving teacher-student relationships as well as peer-relationships. One such intervention is the Child Development Project (CDP). It focuses on fostering caring peer relationships, including students in decision-making, and teaching students to better understand the feelings, needs, and perspectives of others. The goal of CDP is to promote positive development among children and build upon their strengths. Students exposed to this intervention feel more positive about school and are more motivated (e.g., showed more task orientation and greater intrinsic motivation) than their counterparts not receiving this intervention in elementary school (Solomon, Battistich, Watson, Schaps, & Lewis, 2000). Likewise, CDP appears to have some long-lasting effects; students enrolled in the CDP elementary schools were less antisocial and more prosocial in middle school as well (Battistich et al., 2004). Further, in a district that pressed for high achievement, CDP was linked to positive effects on achievement outcomes as well as gains in socioemotional skills  For more information, visit Developmental Studies Center's Child Development Project. 

Another example is the Responsive Classroom (RC) approach. This is a classroom-based intervention designed to integrate social and academic learning. When RC was examined to determine whether there were links between the use of its approach and the quality of teacher-student relationships, it was found that teachers using more RC practices had closer relationships with students in their classrooms (Rimm-Kaufman & Chiu, 2007). Visit Responsive Classroom to learn more.