Teacher-Student Relationships

Theoretical Perspectives

Researchers have adopted multiple theoretical perspectives to study the affective nature and qualities of teacher-student relationships including those of Attachment Theory, Self-Determination Theory, and social support and person-environment fit frameworks. Central to these perspectives is the notion that the affective quality of teacher-student relationships is a critical motivator of student adjustment, and that aspects of teacher-student relationships have a causal effect on children's school-related competence, primarily by promoting a positive sense of self and emotional well-being.

Attachment Theory has provided the strongest impetus for work on teachers' relationships with young children. According to this theory, the dyadic relationship between a child and caregiver (usually the mother) is a system in which children experience various levels of felt security, safety, and responsiveness to their basic needs, with predictable and sensitive responses being associated with secure attachments that foster curiosity and exploration of the environment, positive coping skills, and a mental representation of one's self as being worthy of love and of others as being trustworthy. Although teacher-student relationships are not typically viewed as primary attachment relationships, Attachment Theory principles would suggest that they would be fairly concordant with the quality of parent-child attachments and therefore, related to children's intellectual curiosity, positive sense of self, and emotional well-being. In turn, these intrapersonal outcomes are believed to contribute to the development of positive social and cognitive skills at school.

Self-Determination Theory posits that students will engage positively in the social and academic tasks of the classroom when their needs for relatedness, competence, and autonomy are met. Contextual supports in the form of interpersonal involvement, structure, and provisions of autonomy (e.g., opportunities for choice and self-direction) are believed to be essential to this process, with teacher involvement (e.g., demonstrating genuine interest in students' well-being and providing emotional support) and students' corresponding sense of relatedness being most frequently associated with the study of teacher-student [Page 1626]relationships. Feelings of relatedness are believed to facilitate students' adoption of goals and interests valued by teachers and desires to contribute in positive ways to the overall functioning of the social group. Feeling related to teachers has been studied most often in relation to academic motivation and engagement during the elementary and middle school years.

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