Abstract
Research has documented associations between high quality teacher-child relationships and children's social skills, self-regulation, and school readiness (Baker et al., 2008; Nguyen et al., 2020; Spilt et al., 2018). High-quality relationships are often defined as those in which the teacher and child experience a sense of closeness. Closeness is characterized by positive interactions, open communication, and warm feelings between teachers and children (Mashburn & Pianta, 2006). In contrast, children in teacher-child relationships regarded as high in conflict often perform poorer academically, are less engaged in learning, and report liking school less (Baker, 2006; Furrer & Skinner, 2003; Hamre & Pianta, 2001; Klem & Connell, 2004; Ladd, et al., 1999; Papadolou & Gregoriadis; 2017; Vitaro et al., 2012). Teacher-child conflict is characterized by negative interactions and negative affect experienced by the dyad (Mashburn & Pianta, 2006). Children who experience conflict tend to develop negative attitudes about school and therefore demonstrate higher levels of school avoidance and less cooperative behaviors in the classroom (Birch & Ladd, 1997). They also receive lower grades in reading (Baker, 2006) and score lower on writing assessments (White, 2013). Research has shown children who exhibit challenging behaviors are at greater risk of experiencing conflict in teacher-child relationships. This tends to persist over time (Portilla et al., 2014; Shi et al., 2020; Silver et al., 2005) and be particularly salient for children from low-income backgrounds (Collins et al, 2017).
Recommended Citation
White, Kelley Mayer and Swart, Katie
(2023)
"Building Individual Relationships with Students in Today's Classrooms,"
Teacher Education Journal of South Carolina: Vol. 16:
No.
2, Article 9.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/tejsc/vol16/iss2/9