Helping teenagers reconnect to learning -the power of supportive teachers to design autonomy

Abstract

Teaching and Learning International Survey - TALIS (2019) reports that classroom climate is an important factor in student outcomes. The process of creating a productive learning environment in schools is a challenging dimension of students' autonomy. Related to school autonomy, the PISA results (2013) discovered that levels of school autonomy is related to student performance across some PISA countries (positive correlations), but is depending on some resources, especially when de autonomy significance is combined with accountability. The most used definition of learner autonomy is closely identified with the personal meaning of what the learner sees as important for itself and with the responsibility to develop new skills to progress in the metacognitive process, to be reflective in all itself actions, and to be motivate and self-aware. In this study, the interest is focused on the teachers and their implications on students' autonomy development. The implications of the learning interactions between teacher and students, the categories of teaching styles that influence the development of students' autonomy, the characteristics of teachers who develop autonomy (seniority in teaching, the quality of mentors, the subject field of teaching) are analyzed. The results emphasize that supportive teachers use quality educational relationships, stimulate students 'involvement in their own learning, and do not necessarily depend on teaching experience, teachers' age, time spent with students or the category of subject field teaching.