Research on teacher–student relationships and learning environments: Context, retrospect and prospect

Abstract

The program of research on teacher–student relationships described in this issue is an important part of the field of classroom learning environments, although it has its own distinctive and significant features. The questionnaire on teacher interaction (QTI), the main instrument used in this research, follows the strong tradition in learning environments research of using the perceptions of the participants in the classroom. Although this research program originated in the Netherlands, it now is truly international and the QTI has been translated into and validated in over a dozen languages. Not only has past research consistently replicated the advantages of positive teacher–student relationships in terms of promoting improved student outcomes, but positive teacher–student relationships also are worthwhile process goals of education. In the future, it would be desirable for the QTI to be used more frequently by teachers as a feedback instrument for guiding improvements in their classroom relationships with their students, and that qualitative data-collection methods are used more often in conjunction with the use of the QTI in research on teacher–student interaction.