Relatedness Between Students and Teachers: Supporting Students Academically and Knowing Them Personally

• In Event: 41.084 - Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: 41.084-8 - Negotiating Relationships

Abstract

Ensuring equal educational opportunity for all children requires attending to the relational aspects of instruction (e.g. student-teacher relationships, positive classroom climate, students’ social-emotional needs). Using data from the Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching project, this study examines how relational teaching practices can help fulfill adolescents’ needs for belonging and motivation and, in turn, support their learning and well-being. In addition, this study analyzes how teachers’ perceptions of their own relationships with colleagues and leaders influence their teaching practices and students’ outcomes. In particular, this study considers how various groups of students in grades 6-9 experience different educational opportunities due to important variation in the relational experiences they or their teachers have.

Author

• Hillary L. Greene, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor