Search

Intervention is considered the ultimate goal of the diagnostic process. However, when diagnostic assessment is largely focused on student (mal)adjustment and when the role and perspective of the teacher is not systematically evaluated, the assessment may fail to generate useful recommendations for intervention or teacher consultation. Based on a descriptive case report, the potential contribution of the Teacher Relationship Interview in making the assessment phase more relevant to intervention is outlined and illustrated.

Research on teacher-student relationships is mainly based on questionnaires investigating teachers' explicit cognitions. However, it is also important to investigate implicit processes in social interactions, such as internalized feelings. The Teacher Relationship Interview (TRI) is a narrative method aimed at assessing teachers' (implicit) mental representations of dyadic teacher-student relationships. The TRI may provide--for researchers as well as practitioners--a deeper understanding of teachers' implicit cognitive and emotional processes elicited in teacher-student relationships, which can be useful for psychodiagnostic assessment and relationship-focused consultation with teachers. This study investigated the psychometric properties of the TRI in a special education sample of students with symptoms of attachment disorders (N = 80). Expected interrelations of the TRI scales were found with a widely used questionnaire of teacher-student relationships, independent observations of teacher-student interactions, and teacher perceptions of student behavior.

To understand and support teacher-student interactions, there is a need for research on teachers' daily emotions in interactions with students. Therefore, this study investigated the development of teachers' negative emotions in interactions with individual students with attachment problems. Using a 3-week diary study, data were collected from 71 teacher-student dyads in special education schools for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Overall, the development of both activating (e.g., anger) and deactivating (e.g., helplessness) negative emotions was low and stable over time. Teachers with high self-efficacy and teachers with a high supportive teaching style were less likely to experience intensity of and variability in negative emotions. Student maladjustment and teachers' depersonalization attitudes were positively associated with more activating negative emotions. Beginning teachers reported more deactivating negative emotions. The study highlights the need of emotion-focused interventions for teachers to promote positive interactions between teachers and individual students.

Research stresses the importance of teacher sensitivity for the development of special needs students, including students with attachment problems. However, little is known about the antecedents of teacher sensitivity. This study investigated associations between teachers' daily negative emotions and teacher sensitivity towards individual students. Data were collected from 71 teacher-student dyads in special education primary schools and included students with mild to severe attachment problems (6 to 10 years old). Teachers reported their daily negative activating (e.g. anger) and deactivating (e.g. sadness) emotions in relation to individual students during a three-week period. Teacher sensitivity was observed in interaction with the target student in a cognitively challenging and an emotionally challenging task. Teachers' higher but decreasing negative activating emotions were associated with higher levels of observed teacher sensitivity in the cognitively challenging task. In addition, heightened levels of negative deactivating emotions were associated with lower levels of observed teacher sensitivity but only in the emotionally challenging task.

It is widely acknowledged that high-quality teacher-student relationships contribute to both student and teacher well-being. However, research shows that building these relationships can be challenging for teachers and signals opportunities for teacher education to better prepare them for building high-quality teacher-student relationships. As teachers' relationship-building competence allows them to establish high-quality relationships with students, even those typically at-risk for conflictual relationships, we propose a learning trajectory targeting teachers' dyadic relationship-building competence to be implemented in initial teacher education. Such a learning trajectory allows for progressively deepening the level of understanding and selfreflection throughout the three-year initial education program. To address teachers' relationship-building competence in teacher education, relevant competencies, selected in previous research by an independent expert panel, were translated into specific learning goals, learning activities, and materials in close collaboration with partner university colleges. An overview of planned quantitative and qualitative data collection is presented. The learning trajectory could strengthen initial pre-primary and primary teacher education programs in supporting pre-service teachers' relationship-building competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is suggested that dependent teacher-child relationships are associated with emotional insecurity and a lack of autonomous exploration that interferes with children's school development. This might be especially observed among children with attachment problems who may have developed a profound sense of insecurity in relationships with others. In this study, the effects of dependency on children's classroom and peer engagement were examined as well as the protective role of teacher sensitivity. The sample included 85 Belgian children with mild to severe attachment problems and 70 teachers from special education schools. Data on teacher sensitivity and teacher-child relationship quality (dependency, conflict, closeness) were collected in the first trimester of the school year using independent observations and teacher questionnaires respectively. Teachers also completed questionnaires on classroom engagement (independent classroom participation) and peer engagement (social withdrawal) in the first, second, and third trimester. Dependency was uniquely associated with lower levels of independent classroom participation. Moreover, low teacher sensitivity predicted declines in independent classroom participation among overly dependent children, whereas high teacher sensitivity predicted growth in independent classroom participation. Dependency and teacher sensitivity did not predict social withdrawal. This study highlights the importance of teachers being sensitive to the needs of overly dependent children to support the autonomous exploratory behavior of these children.

Executive functions (EFs), important cognitive processes that enable goal-directed behavior, develop due to maturation and environmental stimulation. The current study systematically reviews and synthesizes evidence on the association between teacher-student interactions and EFs. The search resulted in 28 studies, from which 23 studies provided sufficient data to be included in the calculations. Overall effect sizes indicate that teacher-child interactions are related to general executive functioning, working memory, and inhibition but not cognitive flexibility. Relationships were stronger for studies including children at the beginning of elementary school, studies with higher socioeconomic status participants and more boys, and studies measuring teacher-child interactions at the dyadic level. This study shows that qualitative teacher-child interactions are important for performance in EFs in children. This suggests that teachers can promote the cognitive processes that are essential in children's learning by changing their behavior to create an emotionally positive, structured, and cognitively stimulating classroom environment.

Previous studies have found that different trajectories of conflicted relationships with teachers predicted academic underachievement. However, little is known about what places children at risk of atypical conflict trajectories. This follow-up study examines whether African American ethnicity, IQ, and socioeconomic status (SES) are unique predictors of teacher-student conflict trajectories, taking into account sociobehavioral predictors, including aggression and prosocial behavior. The study included an ethnically diverse sample of 657 academically at-risk children in which four latent growth classes of conflict trajectories (Grades 1-5) predicted underachievement previously. In this follow-up study, six predictors were examined: African American ethnicity, SES, IQ (independent assessment), inhibitory control (performance measure), and aggression and prosocial behavior (peer assessment). The results showed that African American ethnicity, but not IQ and SES, uniquely predicted atypical conflict trajectories while controlling for sociobehavioral predictors. African American children were at risk of increasingly conflicted relationships with elementary school teachers, which has been found to increase the risk of academic underachievement in middle school.

This longitudinal study examined developmental links between closeness in teacher-child relationships and children's receptive language ability from the end of the preschool years into the early elementary years, while controlling for changes in peer interaction quality and child behavioral functioning. The sample included children and their parents and teachers (N = 4,983) participating in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) at ages 4-5, 6-7, and 8-9 years (3 waves). Teachers reported on levels of closeness in relationships with individual children. Independent assessments of receptive language were employed. Parents and teachers reported on peer interaction problems and child conduct problems. Results indicated reciprocal associations between close teacher-child relationships and receptive language development above and beyond associations with peer interaction quality and child behavioral functioning. However, the effects were only modest.

Background: Gifted children learn differently compared to their peers in several ways. However, their educational needs are often not met in regular schools, which may result in underachievement and social-emotional and behavioral problems. A pullout program, the "Day a Week School" (DWS), was offered to gifted children in 25 elementary schools from neighborhoods of higher and lower SES in Amsterdam. Objective: To investigate whether DWS decreases children's social-emotional and behavior problems and parents' stress, and improves children's self-concept, enjoyment at school, and academic achievement. Methods: Gifted children (grades 3-5) were selected through a standardized identification procedure assessing "out-of-the box", logical, and creative thinking and motivation (n = 89). Children, as well as both their parents and teachers, completed questionnaires before the start of DWS and after 2,5 months. Results were analyzed for all children and for at-risk children with higher levels of psychopathology before starting DWS. Results: Analyses on the total group showed small positive effects on children's self-reported self-concept dimensions, scholastic competence and behavioral conduct, as well as on fathers' reported child prosocial behavior. In the at-risk group, children reported medium positive effects on scholastic competence and behavioral conduct, and on sleep problems and worry, and small improvements on enjoyment at school. Parents of at-risk children reported decreased child's somatic complaints and decreased social-emotional and behavioral problems. Finally, teachers reported higher academic achievement and medium positive effects on inattention-hyperactivity in the at-risk group. Conclusions: Day a Week School appears to be a promising pullout program for gifted children, particularly for children at-risk for psychopathology.

This study aimed to understand how relationships with peers and teachers contribute to the development of internalizing problems via children's social self-concept. The sample included 570 children aged 7 years 5 months (SD = 4.6 months). Peer nominations of peer rejection, child-reported social self-concept, and teacher-reported internalizing problems were assessed longitudinally in the fall and spring of Grades 2 and 3. Teacher reports of support to the child were assessed in Grade 2. Results showed that peer rejection impeded children's social self-concept, which in turn affected the development of internalizing problems. Partial support was found for individual (but not classroom-level) teacher support to buffer the adverse effects of peer problems on children's self-concept, thereby mitigating its indirect effects on internalizing problems.

The present study investigated whether the complementarity principle (mutual interactive behaviors are opposite on control and similar on affiliation) applies to teacher-child interactions within the kindergarten classroom. Furthermore, it was examined whether interactive behaviors and complementarity depended on children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors, interaction time, and interaction frequency. A total of 48 teachers and 179 selected kindergartners with a variety of externalizing and internalizing behaviors were observed in a small group task setting in the natural ecology of the classroom. Teachers' and children's interactive behaviors were rated by independent observers. Teachers reported about children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Multilevel analyses indicated that both teachers and children reacted complementarily on the control dimension but not on the affiliation dimension. Teachers showed more control and more affiliation toward children with higher levels of internalizing behavior. In addition, teachers displayed less affiliation toward children with higher levels of externalizing behavior, whereas those children did not show less affiliation themselves. Teachers' and children's complementarity tendencies on control were weaker if children had higher levels of externalizing behavior. (Contains 4 tables and 4 figures.)

Although research consistently points to poorer teacher-student relationships for boys than girls, there are no studies that take into account the effects of teacher gender and control for possible measurement non-invariance across student and teacher gender. This study addressed both issues. The sample included 649 primary school teachers (182 men) and 1493 students (685 boys). Teachers completed a slightly adapted version of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale. The results indicated limited measurement non-invariance in teacher reports. Female teachers reported better (i.e., more close, less conflictual, and less dependent) relationships with students than male teachers. In addition, both male and female teachers reported more conflictual relationships with boys than with girls, and female teachers also reported less close relationships with boys than with girls. The findings challenge society's presumption that male teachers have better relationships with boys than women teachers. (Contains 2 tables and 4 figures.)

This study modeled teacher-student relationship trajectories throughout elementary school to predict gains in achievement in an ethnic-diverse sample of 657 academically at-risk students (mean age = 6.57 years, SD = 0.39). Teacher reports of warmth and conflict were collected in Grades 1-5. Achievement was tested in Grades 1 and 6. For conflict, low-stable (normative), low-increasing, high-declining, and high-stable trajectories were found. For warmth, high-declining (normative) and low-increasing patterns were found. Children with early behavioral, academic, or social risks were underrepresented in the normative trajectory groups. Chronic conflict was most strongly associated with underachievement. Rising conflict but not declining Conflict coincided with underachievement. The probability of school failure increased as a function of the timing and length of time children were exposed to relational adversity. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)

Many studies have examined the importance of teacher-student relationships for the development of children. Much less is known, however, about how these relationships impact the professional and personal lives of teachers. This review considers the importance of teacher-student relationships for the wellbeing of teachers starting from the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping of Lazarus (1991). Based on theories on interpersonal relationships, it is postulated that teachers have a basic need for relatedness with the students in their class. It is discussed that teachers internalize experiences with students in representational models of relationships that guide emotional responses in daily interactions with students and change teacher wellbeing in the long run. In addition, the notion of mental representations of relationships at different levels of generalization could offer a window to understand how individual teacher-student relationships may affect the professional and personal self-esteem of teachers. Lastly, it is argued that the influence of student misbehavior on teacher stress may be more fully understood from a relationship perspective. The review shows that few studies have directly tested these propositions and offers suggestions for future research. (Contains 1 figure.)

A meta-analytic approach was used to investigate the associations between affective qualities of teacher-student relationships (TSRs) and students' school engagement and achievement. Results were based on 99 studies, including students from preschool to high school. Separate analyses were conducted for positive relationships and engagement (k = 61 studies, N = 88,417 students), negative relationships and engagement (k = 18, N = 5,847), positive relationships and achievement (k = 61, N = 52,718), and negative relationships and achievement (k = 28, N = 18,944). Overall, associations of both positive and negative relationships with engagement were medium to large, whereas associations with achievement were small to medium. Some of these associations were weaker, but still statistically significant, after correction for methodological biases. Overall, stronger effects were found in the higher grades. Nevertheless, the effects of negative relationships were stronger in primary than in secondary school. (Contains 1 note, 5 tables, and 1 figure.)

The distinctiveness of physical aggression from other antisocial behavior is widely accepted but little research has explicitly focused on young children to empirically test this assumption. A Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix (MTMM) approach was employed to confirm the distinctiveness of physical aggression from nonaggressive antisocial behavior in early childhood. In addition, the convergent validity of teacher reports of physical aggression was investigated on a measure that contained age-appropriate behavior items selected from the Preschool Behavior Questionnaire (PBQ). Assessments of physical aggression versus nonaggressive antisocial behavior of 117 kindergartners with different behavior profiles were obtained using three measures varying in source and/or method: (a) teacher reports on the PBQ, (b) short interviews with teachers, and (c) classroom observations. The MTMM matrix was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results provided reasonable support for the discrimination between physical aggression and nonaggressive antisocial behavior. In addition, strong support was found for the convergent validity of teacher-reported physical aggression using PBQ items. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

A confirmatory factor analytic study was conducted to obtain evidence for physical aggression as a distinct construct of nonaggressive antisocial behavior in young children. Second, the authors investigated factorial invariance across gender. Teachers completed the Preschool Behavior Questionnaire (PBQ) for two independent samples of kindergartners (N = 487; N = 1,557). Behavior items were selected representing physically aggressive versus nonaggressive antisocial behavior. To obtain support for the two-factor model, the authors also examined associations with subtypes of internalizing behavior. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed that physical aggression constitutes a distinct construct from nonaggressive antisocial behavior for young children. In support of the model, differential associations with internalizing behavior and different outcomes with respect to gender differences were found. Factorial noninvariance across gender was found for physical aggression, and explanations for those gender differences are discussed. (Contains 3 tables.)

The psychometric qualities of two instruments that measure children's perceptions of teacher-child relationships were evaluated in a sample of kindergartners (N = 150): The Young Children's Appraisals of Teacher Support (Y-CATS) and the Kindergartner-Teacher Interaction Computer (KLIC) test. On the Y-CATS, children judged propositions on a dichotomous response format. On the KLIC, children evaluated pictures according to a two-step response procedure to obtain a 4-point scale. Furthermore, these instruments were employed to explore gender differences in the associations between the teacher-child relationship and indices of maladaptive behavior. Teachers completed measures of relationship quality and children's behavior problems. A three-dimensional structure of the Y-CATS (Warmth, Conflict, and Autonomy Support) was found, whereas the KLIC's structure was unidimensional. The KLIC showed high reliability but stronger evidence was obtained for the validity of the Y-CATS. Consistent with attachment-based research, the results indicated that children display gender-typical problem behavior when having non-close teacher-child relationships. (Contains 3 figures and 3 tables.)

The goal of the present study was to obtain evidence for the validity of the Teacher Relationship Interview by exploring associations with a well-validated measure of teacher-child relationship quality, the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (Closeness, Conflict, and Dependency), and examining differences between teachers' narratives about the relationship with a disruptive and a nondisruptive child in their class. Six constructs were derived from teachers' narratives (N = 90) that were elicited with the Teacher Relationship Interview: sensitive practices, positive affect, helplessness, anger, neutralizing negative affect, and coherence. Multilevel analyses showed moderate convergence between the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale and the Teacher Relationship Interview. Expressed anger was related to relational conflict, whereas positive affect and low levels of helplessness appeared associated with close relationships. The coherence of the narrative and the tendency to neutralize negative emotions were positively associated with conflict. No unique associations were found with teachers' narrated sensitive practices. Furthermore, anger and helplessness appeared more prominent in narratives about relationships with disruptive children. (Contains 3 tables.)