Classroom Processes and Teacher–Student Interaction: Integrations with a Developmental Psychopathology Perspective

Abstract

Abstract This chapter reviews theory and empirical evidence linking developmental psychopathology (methods, models, and understandings) with education science, practice, and policy around a particular focus on proximal processes in classrooms related to interactions with teachers. More fully exploiting the intersection of schooling and development remains important for developmental psychopathology precisely because of the role school context dynamics play in shaping the outcome trajectories of children and youth and of the adults who also populate these settings. This intersection is critical for education scientists, practitioners, and policymakers if they hope to fully understand and explain the student outcomes around which most of their efforts are organized. The discussion focuses on the experiences of children and youth in classroom settings and the opportunities they create for development of human capital. Proximal process experiences in schools play a meaningful role in organizing development—aspects of identity, competence, relationships, risk and opportunity all emerge and consolidate in part through experiences in schools. The chapter reviews evidence on the nature, quality, and impact of teacher‐student interactions as they pertain to development and includes new evidence from the study of teacher‐child interaction that reflects developmental psychopathology frameworks for understanding biological mechanisms that intersect with context and experience.