‘Crossing Over That Bridge’ Towards Culturally Relevant and Caring Student-Teacher Relationships

BackgroundTeachers are regarded as attachment-like figures, with positive and supportive teacher-student relationships (TSRs) being linked to improved academic performance and outcomes, while negative TSRs are associated with lower academic results. This systematic review aims to map the relational dimensions of the TSR and its impact on academic (dis)engagement, (under)achievement and early school leaving (ESL), focusing on Secure Base and Safe Haven attachment dimensions and the influence of vulnerability factors.MethodsThe review followed the PRISMA guidelines and included 45 empirical quantitative studies (2018–2022) sourced from Academic Search Complete, ERIC, Scopus and Web of Science. Inclusion criteria were English-written quantitative methodology studies, with TSR as the independent variable and academic outcomes as the dependent variable. Exclusion criteria included longitudinal designs, purely qualitative studies, correlational analyses, studies lacking key variables or presenting reversed relationships, those conducted in e-learning environments, university settings, extreme schooling conditions and non-English language studies. A descriptive and narrative style analysis was used to synthesize the results based on Safe Haven, Secure Base and Global dimensions.Results and discussionKey findings highlighted the significant role of TSR in influencing academic engagement, achievement, and ESL, particularly from vulnerable populations. The synthesis of results indicated that positive TSRs are associated with improved academic outcomes, while negative TSRs can exacerbate disengagement and underachievement. Limitations of the evidence included potential publication bias and the lack of quality control measures, as well as the exclusion of longitudinal and qualitative studies. The findings underscore the significance of a holistic understanding of the TSR in education, highlighting its multifaceted impact on student success and suggesting that future research should consider qualitative and longitudinal studies and expand the scope to studies in non-English language.

This meta-analysis examined which classroom management strategies and programs enhanced students’ academic, behavioral, social-emotional, and motivational outcomes in primary education. The analysis included 54 random and nonrandom controlled intervention studies published in the past decade (2003–2013). Results showed small but significant effects (average g = 0.22) on all outcomes, except for motivational outcomes. Programs were coded for the presence/absence of four categories of strategies: focusing on the teacher, on student behavior, on students’ social-emotional development, and on teacher–student relationships. Focusing on the students’ social-emotional development appeared to have the largest contribution to the interventions’ effectiveness, in particular on the social-emotional outcomes. Moreover, we found a tentative result that students’ academic outcomes benefitted from teacher-focused programs.

Positive teacher–student relationships are critical for motivation in secondary school yet are conceptualized and measured inconsistently in motivation research. Motivation studies that draw on relational theories typically treat teacher–student relationships as a multidimensional construct, comprising positive (e.g., closeness) and negative (e.g., conflict) dimensions. In contrast, studies drawing on motivation theories typically use unidimensional relationship measures (e.g., only closeness). Studies also differ in their measures of teacher–student relationships and in whether they study dyads (“my teacher to me”) or broader groups (“teachers to me”; “my teacher to us”), and it is unclear which approaches are most common in current adolescent motivation research and how they have shaped current understandings of relationships in the field. Given this confusion, the aim of our systematic review was to map how teacher–student relationships have been conceptualized, measured, and analyzed in adolescent motivation research published between 2010 and 2023. Using PRISMA guidelines, 237 studies and 222 unique relationship measures were identified. The findings showed that teacher–student relationships and teacher support were used interchangeably across studies, both in terms of terminology and measurement. Most studies also examined teacher–student relationships using unidimensional measures, rather than multidimensional, with dyadic and non-dyadic relationships both common. Finally, there was no clear pattern of conceptualization or measurement for specific motivation constructs. These findings raise concerns regarding alignment between theorizing and measurement of teacher–student relationships in motivation research. We offer a path forward for identifying and appropriately using existing measures of teacher–student relationships vs support, as well as highlight the need for the development of measures which critically engage with conceptual concerns regarding teacher–student relationships and which reflect an integrated understanding of core relationship components (e.g., dyadic, multidimensional) identified across relational and motivation theories.

Background A large body of survey-based research asserts that the quality and strength of student-teacher relationships (STRs) predict a host of academic and nonacademic outcomes; however, advances in survey design research have led some to question existing survey instruments’ psychometric soundness. Concurrently, qualitative research on STRs has identified important developmental and sociocultural variation in the ways students define, understand, and react to relationships with their teachers. The questions raised by survey methodologists, together with the conceptual elaboration of STRs, suggest that survey instruments used to assess STRs are due for a systematic review. Purpose/Research Questions This review of survey instruments examines the strengths and shortcomings of existing measures of STRs. Specifically, we ask: How do student self-report survey instruments assess STRs? We examined the extent to which these instruments reflect current survey design principles and existing knowledge about how STRs work, particularly for adolescents. Research Design, Data Collection, and Analysis A systematic search of peer-reviewed journal articles that (a) focused on North American middle- or high-school students, (b) linked STRs to student outcomes, and (c) used a student-report measure of STRs yielded 66 studies for which we could obtain the full instrument. Instruments were analyzed using a literature-informed protocol and an iterative process that resulted in strong inter-rater agreement. We used tables and matrices to examine patterns, themes, and outliers in our coded data. Findings The 66 studies varied considerably with respect to how they operationalized STRs and how they addressed the validity of their instruments. Similar survey items were used to measure different constructs, and constructs with the same names were measured inconsistently across studies. Many instruments were limited by (a) items that included words with ambiguous meanings, (b) inconsistent identification of instruments’ focal students and teachers across instruments, and (c) the use of negatively worded items to measure STRs’ strength. Conclusions and Recommendations If STR research is to meet its promise to guide and inform teachers’ efforts to develop and sustain effective relationships with their students, the field needs to properly identify those behaviors that make a difference for different students and those that do not. The next generation of student-report STR survey instruments requires more stringent attention to construct specification and validity, as well as to item generation (specifically, language use), in order to most effectively measure and identify aspects of STRs that affect student performance and well-being.

The present study explores the impact of teacher-student relationships: A promotion of the English language teaching-learning process in inclusive classroom settings in the 21st century. As all parents are aware, children's relationships with their educators can significantly impact students' inspiration, educational success, and mental and sociological well-being. Students spend a considerable amount of time at school, where almost all of their interpersonal communication activities and interactions occur. The purpose of this study was to provide more real-world examples and assumptions about the formation of teacher-student relationships. Realizing unique elements associated with teacher-student interactions in an educational setting could provide a learning community with helpful insights regarding English language teaching-learning procedures in inclusive classroom settings. Even though early research on children's social transitions to school focused on peer relationships, studies have mainly highlighted the importance of student-teacher relationships in promoting the English language teaching-learning process in inclusive classroom settings in the twenty-first century. Preserving a good relationship with students was regarded as a long and tedious effort for the teacher, which was also related to the teacher's well-being in English language teaching-learning. Positive teacher-student relationships can improve teachers' conceptual well-being. As per one source, the greater a teacher's teaching expert knowledge, the easier it is to find their relationship with students. This study aimed to see if teaching experience reduced the impact of the teacher-student relationship on the teacher's subjective well-being in inclusive classroom settings in the twenty-first century. Begin by trying to investigate and comprehend teacher perceptions of teacher-student relationships and how various kinds of students' academic performance and behaviour influence the English language teaching-learning procedure in inclusive classroom settings. A teacher-student relationship is a formal and structured interpersonal relationship between an authoritarian leadership style and a reliant one with whom they have constant interaction. There was a significant relationship between learning comfort and teacher-student interaction and assessing the potential application of environmental impacts and learning commitment. As per the study, there is a link between the teacher-student relationship, the teacher's well-being, and the teacher's experience. Reinforcing the close teacher-student relationship impacts teacher well-being in the promotion of the English language teaching-learning process in inclusive classroom settings in the twenty-first century.

Previous studies have demonstrated positive correlations between children’s interpersonal trust and social adjustment. However, the psychological mechanism underlying this effect is still unclear. The current study tested the indirect roles of teacher–student relationships from both students’ and teachers’ perspectives in a Chinese context. In total, 709 pupils from grade three to grade five, and their 17 head teachers from a Chinese public primary school participated in this study. The Children’s Generalized Trust Beliefs Scale, Social Adjustment Scale for Children and Adolescents, and Teacher–Student Relationship Questionnaire were used in this study. All these variables were correlated with each other. Structural equation models showed that the interpersonal trust indirectly influenced social adjustment through the teacher–student relationship from students’ perspectives, while the teacher–student relationship from teachers’ perspectives did not play an indirect role. These findings suggest that the teacher–student relationship perceived by students is more important for children’s social adjustment than that perceived by teachers. Both parents and teachers should pay more attention to developing children’s interpersonal trust, build better teacher–student relationships, and focus more on how children feel about the relationship.

This systematic review examines the teacher-student relationship (TSR) from an attachment perspective and explores its impact on academic (dis)engagement, (under)achievement and Early School Leaving (ESL) over time. It addresses two objectives: (1) examining the longitudinal influence of TSR on academic outcomes and (2) assessing its effect on vulnerable student populations, including those facing Social Vulnerabilities (e.g., students from ethnic minorities, migrant backgrounds, or living in low socioeconomic conditions), Special Needs (e.g., disabilities or learning difficulties), and Mental Health issues. Additionally, the review considers how individual characteristics such as gender may shape the quality and impact of TSRs. A total of 37 longitudinal studies from ERIC, Academic Search Complete, Scopus and Web of Science were analyzed, using the PRISMA guidelines to ensure transparency and replicability. The results revealed significant associations between the quality of TSR and academic (dis)engagement over time, with smaller effects on academic (under)achievement. Mixed results were found regarding gender. Students from low socioeconomic status, minority backgrounds, and those with mental health challenges experienced poorer TSR, which in turn led to poorer academic outcomes in the long run. For Special Needs students, positive TSRs supported behavioral engagement and academic achievement, while poor relationships were linked to increased conflict and risk of disengagement. The review underscores the importance of supportive and responsive teacher-student interaction in fostering a conducive learning environment over time, especially for vulnerable students. Additionally, it suggests that enhancing TSR quality can act as a protective factor against disengagement and underachievement, thereby reducing the risk of ESL. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to improve TSRs, particularly for students at higher risk of educational exclusion. Overall, the study provides a comprehensive understanding of how TSRs influence various academic outcomes over time, offering valuable recommendations for educators and policymakers to support vulnerable student populations.

This study examined whether teacher–student relationships protect against peer victimization and its negative psychosocial effects (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress). Additionally, the influence of teacher–student relationships, peer relationships, and students’ perceptions of school order and discipline was investigated as these variables were expected to be negatively related to the former. Data were collected from high school‐aged adolescents (N = 539; 51% female) in the U.S. Southwest. Study results indicate that teacher–student relationships buffered against experiencing psychosocial distress associated with peer victimization. Although positive teacher–student relationships, peer relationships, and students’ perceptions of school order and discipline all were negatively associated with peer victimization and psychosocial distress, teacher–student relationships were robustly related to peer victimization and psychosocial distress over the influence of the previous variables. In other words, as a key study finding, teacher–student relationships may reduce the impact of peer victimization by mitigating its negative psychosocial effects in a robust yet relatively unexplored way. Therefore, although more research is needed, fostering positive teacher–student relationships might be an effective way to reduce peer victimization as well as its negative effects.

Adolescents start to understand complex abstract concepts related to empathy and then engage in more costly prosocial behaviors. Positive teacher-student relationships, as the important environmental system, also promote adolescents' prosocial behaviors. Understanding whether positive teacher-student relationships can inspire adolescents to engage in more prosocial behaviors via empathy matters for improving social harmony. However, no study has systematically examined the relation between teacher-student relationships and prosocial behaviors at the within-person level, the mediating role of empathy between them, and the moderator of sex among these associations. More importantly, the examination of within-person relations would reveal the causal associations among these variables. Thus, framed in the developmental cascade perspective, the current study included 2407 Chinese adolescents (50.23% girl, Mage = 12.75, SD = 0.58 at T1) from seven schools over three time points with a one-year interval, and investigated the dynamic associations among teacher-student relationships, empathy, and prosocial behaviors by using the random intercept cross-lagged models. Results showed that the random intercepts of teacher-student relationships, empathy, and prosocial behaviors were significantly positively associated. At the within-person level, teacher-student relationships at T2 played a mediating role in the relation between the prosocial behaviors at T1 and T3. And, higher levels of teacher-student relationships at T1 lead to an increase in cognitive empathy at T2. Cognitive empathy stably predicted subsequent prosocial behaviors, and prosocial behaviors consistently predicted subsequent affective empathy. Teacher-student relationships indirectly predicted prosocial behaviors through cognitive empathy but not affective empathy. Sex differences were observed only in the model of cognitive empathy. The current findings contribute to the understanding of the relations among teacher-student relationships, empathy, and prosocial behaviors from the developmental cascade perspective, providing a novel scientific foundation for interventions aimed at promoting adolescents' prosocial behaviors.

Student–teacher relationships (STRs) have been examined by many studies. However, an omission still exists, the existing scales are not appropriate for studying STRs in private colleges because of the special character of these schools. This paper presents the development and validation of Private-College Student–Teacher Relationship Scale (PCSTRS), the first instrument to evaluate student–teacher relationships (STRs) in private colleges. The PCSTRS has six dimensions: trust, interaction, intimacy, care, approval, and comfort. In our main study, the validity and reliability of the six-factor PCSTRS model were demonstrated. The result of internal consistency coefficient indicated the high reliability of the scale, and the result of concurrent validity indicated the significant correlational relationships between the PCSTRS with other STR measures. In supplementary study, the PCSTRS was administered to 360 participants to confirm the applicability of PCSTRS and investigate the relation of STRs and students’ traits, performance, and wellbeing, as well as the differences between the private school and the public school in this relation; the analyses revealed that there were significant differences in trust, intimacy, and care between private and public colleges; positive correlations were found between STRs and self-esteem, self-efficacy, academic performance, extracurricular activity involvement, and subjective wellbeing. Present research firstly develops the PCSTRS, examined the reliability and validity, and provides the proposed nomological network among related constructs.

Previous research has shown that teacher–student relationships influence student engagement, which, in turn, plays a key role in academic achievement. However, few studies have focused on the mechanism between the teacher–student relationship and student engagement. To address this gap in the literature, this study examined the link between teacher–student relationships and college students' engagement via the mediator of peer relationships. The sample consisted of 222 university students in Southwest China. Results of structural equation modeling showed that a positive teacher–student relationship was positively related to student engagement, and peer relationships partially mediated this relationship. Our findings will help researchers and educators to better understand the mechanism of the link between teacher–student relationships and student engagement, and provide practical suggestions for improving college students' engagement.

Teacher–student relationships are an important part of students’ interpersonal context at school that impacts their academic development. This study extended prior research into teacher–student relationships by exploring the relative balance of negative and positive teacher–student relationships in high school students’ academic lives (in each of English, mathematics, science, history, and geography subjects). Also examined was the role of this relational balance in predicting students’ school engagement (operationalized by academic participation, enjoyment, and aspirations). The study involved a longitudinal sample of 2,079 students from 18 high schools. Findings identified a significant linear (main) effect, with an increase in the number of positive relationships (relative to negative relationships) with teachers predicting greater school engagement. This was accompanied by a significant curvilinear effect. Specifically, (a) when the relational balance became predominantly negative, students’ engagement was lower, but did not decline with an increasing number of negative teacher–student relationships, and (b) when the relational balance became predominantly positive, students’ engagement was higher and became increasingly more so as the number of positive teacher–student relationships outnumbered the negative. We conclude that the enhancing properties of positive teacher–student relationships seem to outweigh the limiting (or narrowing) properties of negative teacher–student relationships. Further, there is cumulative engagement yield through increasing the number of positive teacher–student relationships across students’ school subjects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

This study aimed to investigate the influence of teacher-student relationships and academic emotions on the learning attitudes of Grade 10 science students in four public secondary schools in Davao del Norte, Philippines. Using a descriptive-correlational design and validated questionnaires, data were collected from 301 students. The instruments used were the Teacher Student Relationship Inventory (S-TSRI), the Academic Emotions Scale (AES), and the Attitude Towards Science Learning (AtSL) questionnaire. The study revealed that the respondents’ teacher-student relationship is highly extensive, academic emotions are felt and learning attitudes in science are evident. Moreover, the results show that both teacher-student relationships and academic emotions significantly predicted learning attitudes towards science. The study concluded that strong teacher-student relationships and positive academic emotions are crucial factors in fostering positive learning attitudes towards science. Lastly, students, parents, teachers, school administrators, DepEd officials, and other researchers would all benefit from this study by learning more about the factors that affect student’s learning attitude. The study recommends that schools prioritize fostering positive teacher-student relationships, promoting positive academic emotions, and implementing strategies to enhance student engagement in science. KEYWORDS: science education, teacher-student relationship, academic emotions, learning attitude in science, grade 10 students, descriptive and correlational design, regression analysis, Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte, Philippines

Objective: Although much research on community colleges focuses on institutional challenges or student deficits, emerging evidence suggests that student–instructor relationships have the potential to impact student success. The current study examined factors that could influence community college students’ development of relationships with instructors and how these relationships are associated with academic engagement and achievement. Drawing on literature exploring student–instructor relationships at 4-year institutions, we hypothesized that students’ relationships with instructors may partially account for the association between student demographic and relational characteristics and academic outcomes (i.e., cognitive and behavioral engagement, grade point average [GPA]). Method: Survey data were collected from 646 ethnically and racially diverse participants, many of whom were first-, second-, or third-generation immigrants, or first-generation college students. Employing a between-subjects, cross-sectional design, we tested the main study hypotheses of mediation through a series of path analysis models using Mplus. Results: Students with higher support-seeking attitudes and students with a mentor reported closer relationships with instructors, whereas part-time students reported weaker relationships with instructors. In turn, student–instructor relationships were significantly associated with both cognitive and behavioral aspects of academic engagement and GPA. Conclusion: This study provides insight into the various factors that may influence community college students’ development of relationships with instructors and highlights the direct and indirect influence of these relationships on student success. Implications for future practice include finding strategies that can be implemented at community colleges to foster student–instructor relationships. Future research should further explore these associations using longitudinal data to gain a deeper understanding of current findings.

Seven cohorts of students (N = 258) who completed a K‐5 Spanish Immersion (SI) program in a suburban California school district were followed longitudinally through middle and high school to understand their academic, language, and social emotional outcomes. Academic and language outcomes included Spanish classes and grades, standardized Math and English Language Arts test scores, high school grade point average (GPA), language class enrollment, Advanced Placement (AP™) Spanish scores, and receipt of the Biliteracy Attainment Award. Results showed that SI graduates generally continued with Spanish language classes up through advanced levels and received high grades. They had similar middle school Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium scores and high school GPAs as their non‐SI comparison group. There were no significant differences between SI and non‐SI students for each year on three different social emotional learning (SEL) outcomes (emotion regulation, growth mindset, and school belonging). Overall, results suggest that a K‐5 SI program can lead to positive academic and language outcomes without negative impacts on SEL.