The Effect of Student-Teacher Relationships on Students' Attitudes Toward Mathematics

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: Gifted Education, Creativity, and Talent Development Posters

Abstract

In this study, we explored how the perceived quality of the student-teacher relationship affected students’ attitudes toward mathematics, if this was moderated by gender, socio-economic background or high ability, and if this differed across countries. Using the 2012 Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) data from 24 European countries, we found that student-teacher relationships positively affected students attitudes toward mathematics. Moreover, this effect was stronger for those students who came from a lower-socio-economic background as well as for boys. We also found that high-ability students were less impacted by their perceived student-teacher relationship than their normative peers. No significant cross-country differences were found. It should be noted, however, that all the effects although statistically significant, were small.

Authors

• Ophélie Allyssa Desmet, Valdosta State University

• Abdullah Tuzgen, Purdue University

• Hyeseong Lee, Lewis University