Comparing Teacher-Student Relationships: Voices of Immigrant-Origin Students in the US and Switzerland

• In Event: Youth, education, and digital tools: global perspectives on connection, migration, and learning

Proposal

High-quality relationships with educators are associated with better academic outcomes, students’ standing with their peers, a sense of belonging, and less disruptive behavior (Authors, 2023; Chiu et al., 2012; Dika & Singh, 2002; Poling et al., 2022). Particularly, immigrant-origin students and students who speak a foreign language at home benefit from positive relationships with educators (Archambault et al., 2024; Garcia-Reid et al., 2015; Lee & Lam, 2016). Still, immigrant-origin adolescents’ perspectives have been largely absent from this literature. Therefore, this comparative study centers immigrant-origin middle school students’ perspectives on factors shaping their relationships with educators in the US and Switzerland. As such, this study seeks to answer the following research question: What factors shape immigrant-origin adolescents’ student-teacher relationships?

This US-Switzerland cross-national study is especially relevant to the field of comparative education, as it examines how institutional, local, state, and national contexts can mediate learning and teaching, shaping student-teacher relationships. By employing cross-national comparative methods, this study focuses on these multiple levels of context. By grounding these comparisons in the student experience, it provides a more comprehensive understanding of how educational environments in different countries shape the experiences of immigrant-origin students (Bray & Thomas, 1995; Phillips & Schweisfurth, 2014).

Theory

Examining teacher-student relationships, this study employs a social capital perspective (Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Lin, 2001). Fisher (2018) defined social capital for adolescents as the “access to and ability to mobilize human connections that might help them further their potential and their goals as those goals emerge and inevitably shift over time” (p. 37). Social capital has been useful in advancing immigrant-origin youth’s education, enhancing their social and emotional well-being, and boosting their communities (Dika & Singh, 2002; Portes & Rumbaut, 2014; Rivera et al., 2016).

Mode of Inquiry

For this study, 22 immigrant-origin middle school students were interviewed 3-4 times each (41 hours). Participants were between 11 and 15 years old. Fourteen students attended US middle schools, and eight attended a Swiss middle school. They were interviewed about their networks, including the quality of relationships with educators, aspirations, and school experiences. Interviews were conducted in the instructional language at the respective school (i.e., English or German). For triangulation and to better understand the different contexts, I also interviewed 15 teachers and principals (12 hours).
To analyze these data, I developed a codebook with a set of a priori codes based on the theoretical framework, research questions, and codes that emerged progressively during the analysis process (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Different perspectives (i.e., students, teachers, principals) were triangulated, and member checks with all participants were conducted to enhance the credibility of the findings (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).

Findings

Participants described why or why not they sought their educators' help, or why they perceived a relationship as positive or not. These reasons could be categorized as (a) supports and (b) constraints for positive teacher-student relationships (i.e., mobilizing social capital).

Supports for Mobilizing Social Capital: Participants in both contexts equally valued the following characteristics in teachers when describing teachers with whom they had high-quality relationships: (a) good teaching, (b) being reliably supportive and caring, (c) institutionalized trust (e.g., clarity in roles, explicit confidentiality), and (d) acceptance and respect for the students. However, there were also differences between the contexts shaped by the institutional and broader contexts. For example, while being reliably supportive and caring was important and mentioned by students in both contexts, the care and support provided to students looked different in the Swiss compared to the US context. Structures from the national to institutional levels (e.g., school culture, education system, national culture) mediated teachers’ roles and students’ needs, shaping how teachers could show their care and support. Teacher and principal interviews confirmed these differences (e.g., students at the US schools could not text their teachers after work hours, while students at the Swiss school could; schools in the US were necessary for food security, schools in Switzerland were not).

Constraints for Mobilizing Social Capital: Some students did not feel accepted by some of their teachers because of their immigrant background, language fluency, or race/ethnicity. This theme emerged only in the Swiss context. Feeling discriminated against or observing discriminating behavior by teachers resulted in students not perceiving strong teacher-student relationships, and therefore, not mobilizing their support.

Contribution

This study makes a significant scholarly contribution by highlighting the importance of teachers’ multicultural competencies, antiracist stances, and culturally responsive teaching practices in fostering positive teacher-student relationships with immigrant-origin youth across national contexts (Ialuna et al., 2024). Building on the work by Magno and colleagues (2024), who argue that Swiss educators are insufficiently prepared for diversity and equity issues; this study provides empirical evidence of these challenges through the lived experiences of students. As such, these findings underscore the critical need for equity-focused training and professional development, especially in diverse contexts. Finally, this study advances existing knowledge by demonstrating that educators can effectively express care and support while navigating and adhering to the constraints of their school, local, state, and national frameworks. This nuanced understanding of the intersection between policy and practice offers new insights into how educators can better serve immigrant-origin students within varying educational systems.

Author

• Anita Caduff, University of Michigan