Social and Emotional Competence: A Comparative Study of Teacher Trainings for Better Teacher-Student Relationships

• In Event: Investigating institutions: immigrants, experiences, and “cultural diversity”

Proposal

The purpose of this paper is to explore how Social and Emotional Competence trainings of in-service middle school teachers influence Healthy Teacher-Student Relationships in the USA, UK and India. This study was conducted in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and India, using a mixed-methods approach, to explore how non-governmental organizations that train in-service teachers address their social and emotional competencies, how social and emotional competence in-turn develops teacher-student relationships, and how in-service teacher trainings impact teacher-student relationships.

The broad theoretical framework for this study is “The Prosocial Classroom Model” as developed by Jennings and Greenberg (2009). This study will specifically focus on three components of the model:
a. Teachers’ Social/Emotional Competence
b. Healthy Teacher-Student Relationships
c. School/Community Context Factors
According to Goddard, Hoy and Hoy (2004), social and emotional competence in teachers makes teaching more enjoyable, and teachers more effective. Jennings and Greenberg (2009) point out that teachers’ social and emotional competence has not been given much attention by preservice or in-service teacher trainings since the current education system to assume that teachers would be socially and emotionally competent.

Davis, Summers and Miller (2012) distinguishes between traditional management approaches and relationship-based management approaches in classrooms. Some teachers believe that having an authoritative relationship with students is the answer to better classroom behavior. However, they forget that forming any relationship requires empathy, care, mutual respect and good communication. To form a deeper bond with students, teachers need to communicate better with students, and most importantly, reflect on their decisions and actions. For this reason, forming stronger teacher-student relationships require great effort, especially on the teacher’s part. The recurring themes under this topic were care (Griffiths, Hoveid, Todd and Winter, 2014; Davis, 2012; Honigsfeld and Cohan, 2014; Jones and Jones, 2013) and communication, both verbal and non-verbal (Honigsfeld and Cohan, 2014; Kauffman, Mostert, Trent and Hallahan, 2002; Hattie and Yates, 2014; Brown, 2004). Having better teacher-student relationships makes classroom management easier, and also affects students’ learning outcomes as well as their social and emotional learning (Beaty-O’Ferrall, Green and Hanna, 2010; Davis, Summer and Miller, 2012; Jones and Jones, 2013).

As research done on this topic highlights the importance of development of qualities in a teacher, researchers fail to establish ways in which these qualities can be developed and implemented in a classroom. This gap can be filled by in-service teacher trainings in social and emotional competence which can influence teacher-student relationships. Riley (2009) asserts that pre-service teacher training should emphasize the how-to of building relationships since it has a lasting effect on teachers. Furthermore, one of the sub-goals for goal 4 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (United Nations Development Programme, n.d.) emphasize the increase in the supply of quality teachers through teacher trainings. While most research focuses on pre-service teacher trainings, more research needs to be conducted on in-service teacher trainings that can have a significant impact on developing teacher-student relationships. This paper will highlight emergent findings from the empirical research that was conducted with in-service teacher training non-governmental organizations in the USA, UK and India.

References

Beaty-O’Ferrall, M. E., Green, A., & Hanna, F. (2010). Classroom management strategies for difficult students: Promoting change through relationships. Middle School Journal, 41, 4-11.

Brown, D. F. (2004). Urban teachers’ professed classroom management strategies: Reflections of culturally responsive teaching. Urban Education, 39(3), 266-289.

Davis, H. A., Summers, J. J., & Miller, L. M. (2012). An interpersonal approach to classroom management: Strategies for improving student engagement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Goddard, R. D., Hoy, W. K., & Hoy, W. A. (2004). Collective efficacy beliefs: Theoretical developments, empirical evidence, and future directions. Educational Researcher, 33, 3–13.

Griffiths, M., Hoveid, M. H., Todd, S., & Winter, C. (Eds.). (2014). Re-imagining relationships in education: Ethics, politics and practices. West Sussex, UK: Wiley Blackwell.

Hattie, J., & Yates, G. (2014). The teacher-student relationship. In J. Hattie & G. Yates (Eds.), Visible learning and the science of how learn (pp. 17-25). New York, NY: Routledge.

Honigsfeld, A., & Cohan, A. (2014). Breaking the mold of classroom management: What educators should know and do to enable student success. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 491–525. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654308325693

Jones, V., & Jones, L. (2013). Establishing positive teacher-student relationships. In V. Jones & L. Jones (Eds.), Comprehensive classroom management: Creating communities of support and solving problems (pp. 55-93). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Kauffman, J. M., Mostert, M. P., Trent, S. C., & Hallahan, D. P. (2002). Talking with students. In J. M. Kauffman, P. L. Pullen, M. P. Mostert & S. C. Trent (Eds.), Managing classroom behavior: A reflective case-based approach (pp. 69-92). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Riley, P. (2009). An adult attachment perspective on the student-teacher relationship & classroom management difficulties. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 626-635.

United Nations Development Programme. (n.d.). Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved from http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals/

Author

• Aditi Lal, Soka University of America