Abstract
Research demonstrates that the teacher-student relationship is essential for students with special educational needs. This article investigates how pre-service special educators (n = 74) perceive teachers’ relational competence, as manifested in their relations with students exhibiting behavioral difficulties. The data comprises educators’ written analyses of teacher-student interactions simulated through digital video, both before and after being provided with explicit criteria on teachers’ relational competence. The findings reveal a change in the educators’ perceptions as they shift from a focus on teaching strategies and the learning environment toward an awareness of teacher-student interaction, and from the teacher’s management of problematic student behavior toward an acknowledgment of the communicative and socio-emotional challenges in contexts involving students with different needs.
Highlights
International research demonstrates that the teacher–student relationship plays a crucial role in education (Sabol and Pianta, 2012), for students with special educational needs (Lopez and Corcoran, 2014)
Pre-Test, Sub-Theme 1: Relational Competence is Manifested by Teaching Strategies Several informants write that the teacher skillfully delegates tasks and distributes the opportunity to speak among the students, and see these actions as examples of relational competence: The teacher tries to look at all the students and she distributes the opportunity to speak in the classroom
In the pre-test, many informants tended to focus on the teacher’s teaching strategies and on her ability to create a positive learning environment. Such factors are relevant for relational competence; they are not part of the core of the concept, as defined in the introduction
Summary
International research demonstrates that the teacher–student relationship plays a crucial role in education (Sabol and Pianta, 2012), for students with special educational needs (Lopez and Corcoran, 2014). This article’s purpose is to contribute knowledge of how pre-service special educators perceive relational competence, as manifested in teaching that involves students with behavioral difficulties. This purpose is divided into the following research questions (RQs), which will be analyzed separately: Pre-Service Special Educators’ Understandings
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