University of Arizona
This keynote explores the emerging ideas of frame and task narratives as central dimensions in the authoring of curricula and their enactment in classroom contexts. Frame narratives carry purpose and beliefs about content and what students are capable of accomplishing. Task narratives connect curriculum documents to classroom ecologies, management, and interpersonal relationships. In most curriculum writing and curriculum development projects, both narratives are inadequately specified and understood, which leads to discontinuity between curriculum and teaching practices. In addition to clarifying these dimensions, the paper will examine implications for research on curriculum-teacher relationships and for designing teacher education and professional development.
University of Houston
Teaching is above all about relationships – the interconnectedness between and among students, their teachers, parents (or guardians) other educators and administrators and their near and far communities. This paper explores relationships in classrooms and schools from a view spanning 40 years of observing, listening, researching and talking to members of the micro-society within schools and testing ideas, particularly in the areas of organizational, instructional, and socio-emotional elements of person-centered classroom management. Further, this paper discusses the keystone role classroom management can play as a foundation in developing interpersonal relationships as a pathway to student achievement.
University of Maryland at College Park
A full appreciation of how and why adolescent students thrive or fail to thrive at school requires an understanding of ways in which teachers create trusting relationships with students and the types of social and academic supports they provide within the contexts of these relationships. A central part of this task is providing supports that complement (or counter) the influence of potentially more powerful relationships that students have with their parents and those that they develop with each. In this talk, Dr. Wentzel will describe a systems perspective on teacher-student relationships that takes into account the multiple relationships and supports that students experience. This perspective provides a broad picture of the social and academic challenges that teachers face when trying to engage adolescent students in positive aspects of classroom life.
Utrecht University
This conference has presented many useful contributions to the study of interpersonal relationships in education. In this last keynote I will identify future directions by integrating some of these ideas with previous achievements in the field. Thirty years of research on student-teacher relationships and learning environments have yielded a lot of data, theoretical progress and, above all, many new research questions. My own interest in this field originated from my involvement with student and beginning teachers. These teachers faced formidable challenges in creating healthy, productive environments for their students. As I look back on this practice-oriented perspective I’m not certain whether our research helped improve the skills and student outcomes of these novices . Fortunately, however, our knowledge of and insights into student-teacher relationships have expanded considerably. Several new lines of research promise advanced theoretical paradigms as well as practical accomplishments. Some examples are the investigations into brief interactions, longitudinal studies on teacher development, analyses that employ structural relations models and frameworks that describe components of interpersonal perceptions.
Institute of Education, University of London
Teacher Aides/Assistants (TAs) make up almost a quarter of the school workforce in the UK, but research on their impact is limited and the results mixed. This paper reports on the largest UK study on the impact of TAs on pupil outcomes, involving nearly 8,000 pupils across seven year groups, five measures of support, and pupil attainment measured by National Curriculum levels/Key Stage tests. There was a consistent negative effect of TA support on the academic progress of pupils, even after controlling for prior attainment and special educational needs (SEN). The more support provided, the less progress made. This paper explores this negative effect in terms of TA deployment and practice. TAs have a direct pedagogical role, interacting with pupils – principally those with SEN – who become increasingly separated from the curriculum and interaction with the teacher the more they are supported by TAs. We argue that TAs have become the primary educators of pupils with the greatest needs. This is of concern as unique data from transcripts showed that TAs’ interactions with pupils tended to be concerned with task completion at the expense of teaching for understanding. The paper explores the main explanations for the effects on attainment, ways to alleviate the negative facets of TA support, and addresses implications for school and teacher effectiveness.
Teacher Aides; Para educators; Special Educational Needs; School/Teacher Effectiveness
Simon Fraser University
This paper discusses the development of a learning environment instrument, the Place-Based Learning And Constructivist Environment Survey (PLACES) for use in environmental education programs. Learning environment studies have acknowledged that learning takes place within the social realm and that social conditions contribute to both the quality of learning and experience. In order to access information about students’ perceptions of place-based learning environments, a robust instrument for measuring student perceptions was developed and piloted in a variety of contexts. Validity and reliability data for the instrument from diverse settings is presented along with the possible implications of this data for future research in environmental education.
Learning environments; environmental ed.; place-based learning; pedagogy; constructivism;
Department of Curriculum Studies, Pedagogikum, University of Uppsala
Research, especially in the field of Classroom Management, has shown that the relational context that schools provide carries importance for student learning. Thus, students ’peer relationships become part of the teacher’s responsibilities, as far from all relationships in schools are supportive of learning. A case study consisting of two interviews with the teacher Maria is analyzed using Young’s political theory of oppression. The concepts of cultural imperialism and violence are used in order to understand classroom relationships which are oppressive, and Maria’s innovative means for counteracting these relationships are described as an equalizing move in power relations in the classroom. Conclusions highlight the complexity of the classroom and the opportunities for using political theory in research the field of Classroom Management.
Classroom Management; peer relationships; oppression; political theory;
Bradley University
This study utilized friendly interviews incorporating supportive communication strategies with children and youth in crisis for the purpose of establishing a quick rapport. Teachers who are able to create strong teacher/student relationships are better able to meet students’ basic needs. Once this happens teachers can then apply best practices engaging learning strategies that promote higher achievement, increase motivation, decrease drop out rates, and reduce behavior problems which in turn can reduce the stress of children in crisis. Data sources were transcribed taped interviews, interview notes, and student products. From these, researchers developed guidelines for using the friendly interview process incorporating supportive communication strategies as a means of establishing a quick rapport with children and youth in crisis. Using supportive communication strategies when conducting the friendly interview is one strategy that is time efficient, requires minimal training, and can be applied immediately making it more likely to be utilized enabling teachers to quickly establish rapport and effectively incorporate other essential best practice strategies for learning such as bibliotherapy.
1University of Michigan, 2Utrecht University, 3College of Mount Saint Joseph, 4University of Tasmania, 5Chignecto Regional School Board Canada, 6University of Haifa, 7National Institute of Education Singapore, 8University of South Africa
This proposed session will illustrate the use of an interpersonal-perception-procedure that may open secondary teachers to new opportunities for engaging in advanced professional development in the context of their own schools. The procedure consists of teachers and their principal being assisted to collect and analyze, in simple terms, a type of data that displays and advises them of previously undisclosed perceptions, expectations, and aspirations for teacher responsibility-taking and shared school leadership. The procedure is the work of the Consortium for Cross-Cultural Research in Education.
Interpersonal perception; Teacher-principal relationships; Interpersonal communication; Teacher development; Workplace learning;
1Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2Utrecht University, 3 Eindhoven University of Technology
This paper presents the adaptation studies’ of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction – child version, an adapted version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (Wubbels, 1985) for 5-9th graders, to Portuguese context. The psychometric properties of this instrument’s adaptation are analysed concerning its validity and reliability. It is also tested the adequacy if the circumplex Model for Interpersonal Teacher Behaviour (Wubbels, Créton & Hooymayers, 1985) fits with the data. The relation between teacher-student interaction and school achievement in Portuguese and Math grades was also investigated. The study has important implications for the Portugese research and practical context.
teacher-student interaction; adaptation study; Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction – child version;
1Eindhoven University of Technology 2Open University
Effective coaching of student teachers has become a growing concern for teacher educators due to the increased emphasis placed on learning in the workplace in teacher education programs. An important component of coaching is feedback. The literature suggests that feedback given during the coaching should be specific, should give some cues about learning how to teach, and should be timely. Preferably, the feedback should be given during class performance (=immediate feedback) rather than after the performance (=delayed feedback) to be most effective. A technology enabling immediate feedback is the WIME (Whisper In My Ear) device. This paper describes a study to pilot test the changes in interpersonal behavior of student teacher due to the fact of immediate coaching. By qualitatively interpreting the QTI (Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction) filled in by student teachers themselves, coaches and pupils in the classroom, changes in interpersonal profiles were measured. The findings reveal that student teachers, pupils and coaches saw some positive changes in interpersonal profiles of student teachers. These findings and other considerations for additional research using WIME-based immediate coaching are addressed.
non verbal behavior; WIME (Whisper In My Ear) device; immediate coaching; student teacher; immediate feedback;
Theatre Academy Helsinki
This presentation is based on the author’s dissertation on dialogical dance pedagogy, on her subsequent research on the role of embodiment in human relationships and learning as well as on her practical experience as a visiting dance teacher in public schools. Through her doctoral work she concluded that dialogue, in its essence, is an embodied phenomenon that involves the human being as a whole. One of the main conclusions of this study was that teacher’s aspiration towards dialogue transforms teaching into inherently listening and encountering, and this encountering originates in the body as “a movement towards the other” (Buber 1947). With a deep interest into overcoming the body-mind gap, the author has been working towards a conception of human development and learning that considers embodiment as the core of these complex processes. According to this view, embodied, multisensory experiences are central in the development of consciousness, the sense of self, social cognition and conceptual thinking. The premise for this view rests on the so-called embodied turn that has taken place in many scholarly fields. This presentation seeks to shed light on the learning processes that originate in the moving, sensing and feeling body, that generate rich reflections and meanings, and that comprise of complex relations to others and the world. The author will also discuss the some implications for educational practice that the notions of dialogue and embodiment might generate.
dialogue; embodiment; embodied learning;
North Carolina State University
The purpose of this study was to systematically explore the role of pre-service teachers’ self-descriptions in their perceptions of the 'appropriateness' of three different types of classroom touch behaviors: touching self, teachers touching students, and students touching students. Data were collected from 259 pre-service teachers (18% male, 76% female, 5% did not report) at a large Mid-western university. Teachers were asked to describe their teaching-identity using a list of 30-adjectives and then rate the appropriateness of approximately 40 different types of touch including self-touch, teachers touching students, and students touching each other. Findings suggest pre-service teachers self-descriptions significantly predicted differences in their perceptions of the appropriateness of touch behaviors. Moreover, teachers' perceptions of touch behaviors significantly varied as a function of grade level and type of touch. Findings have significant for district "no touch" policies (Zirkle, 2000).
Pre-service teachers; decision making; student-teacher relationships; touch behavior;
University of Houston-Clear Lake
As education professors, we recognized the importance of teaching our students about classroom relationships, therefore we are using our college classroom to model relationships for our students. Our goal is to change and/or adapt students’ epistemological beliefs to include relationships into their teaching philosophy. However, before investigate a change in students’ epistemological beliefs, we needed to ensure that our model was appreciated and recognized by the students. Thus, we developed a qualitative research study design to determine the perspectives of college students when their professors attempt to use a relational approach to teaching. Our results determined that the students did in fact appreciate and recognize our efforts. One surprising result contradicted research on professor-student relationships because students expressed that they did in fact desire relationships with their professors.
Professor-Student Relationships; Relationships; Teacher Education;
Utrecht University
Supervisor-student relationship and feedback are important in master’s thesis supervision. In a previous study we investigated the relationship between perceptions of the supervisor-student relationship and feedback in a large scale quantitative design. The results indicated that student perceptions of the interpersonal relationship and feedback were indeed moderately to strongly related. In an upcoming study we aim to gain further insight into the details of this relationship. At the round table session alternatives will be discussed for a research design on causality in the relation between the interpersonal relationship and feedback.
Insight in this relationship should provide relevant design principles for optimizing master’s thesis supervision processes on the one hand, and theoretical knowledge with respect to two important factors in master’s thesis supervision in particular, and learning in thesis work in general
Supervisor-student relationship, Feedback, Research supervision, Quasi-experimental, Causality.
Curtin University of Technology
Rating scale instruments have been widely used in learning environment research for many decades. Arguments for their sustained use require provision of evidence commensurate with contemporary validity theory. The multiple-type conception of validity (e.g. content, criterion and construct), that persisted until the 1980s was subsumed into a unified view by Messick. He re-conceptualised types of validity as aspects of evidence for an overall judgment about construct validity. A validity argument relies on multiple forms of evidence. For example, the content, substantive, structural, generalisability aspect, external, and consequential aspects of validity evidence. The theoretical framework for the current study comprised these aspects of validity evidence with the addition of interpretability. The utility of this framework as a tool for examining validity issues in rating scale development and application was tested. An investigation into student engagement in classroom learning was examined to identify and assess aspects of validity evidence. The engagement investigation utilised a researcher-completed rating scale instrument comprising eleven items and a six-point scoring model. The Rasch Rating Scale model was used for scaling of data from 195 Western Australian secondary school students. Examples of most aspects of validity evidence were found, particularly in the statistical estimations and graphical displays generated by the Rasch model analysis. These are explained in relation to the unified theory of validity. The study is significant. It exemplifies contemporary validity theory in conjunction with modern measurement theory. It will be of interest to learning environment researchers using or considering using rating scale instruments.
Rating scale; validity; student engagement;
1Orange County Public School, 2University of Central Florida
The goal of this research was to determine the value and impact of student-teacher interactions in relation to student motivation and achievement. It was further intended that the results of this study would add to the body of knowledge and resources available to enhance the learning experience and impact student success. In order for this to happen, student and teacher perceptions of their interactions were analyzed, as well whether or not this interaction significantly impacted motivation and achievement. The results of this study provided strong arguments in favor of equipping teachers with the appropriate resources and assistance to appropriately meet the needs of their students beyond academic instruction. The slightly negative relationship between motivation and achievement isolated the issue at hand: finding ways to capitalize on these relationships which will act as catalysts for student achievement. The literature review and results of this study found that teacher-student relationships are crucial to student success. Pearson Correlation analyses proved positive correlations between teacher-student interaction and motivation, as well as positive teacher-student interaction and achievement. It however illustrated a negative relationship between motivation and achievement. Suggested uses for the study included the development of workshops for educators and administrators that may have a positive effect on the proven significance of the teacher-student relationship problem. The results suggest the need for teachers to be provided with appropriate resources and assistance to meet the needs of their students beyond academic instruction. It also suggests providing students and teachers with measurable and attainable goals to create experiences with and exposure to success. Further, there needs to a balance where all students are challenged and where the students who need additional assistance are provided with the appropriate scaffolds.
Motivation; Relationships; Achievement; Efficacy;
New insights in educational and psychological theories have caused a shift in the understanding of learning, whereby learning is considered as a process of knowledge construction in stead of a process of knowledge transmission. Influenced by these new insights, recent educational reforms in Dutch secondary education have brought more diversity in the ways schools organize their teaching learning environments (TLEs). Although there is a lot of public and scientific debate on (positive and detrimental) effects of these changes on teaching and student learning, there is not much empirical research to underpin these arguments used in the debate. This study aims to contribute to this empirical knowledge base by means of studying teaching in different TLEs from multiple perspectives: an interpersonal, a learning activities and a content perspective. This study included 16 chemistry teachers in four different types of TLEs in secondary education. Although we expected these TLEs to be different, preliminary results show that more variance is found between cases than between TLEs. Further, teacher cognitions about their teaching in many cases do not correspond with teacher actions according to their students.
teaching-learning environment; interpersonal behaviour; learning activities; chemistry;
University of Massachusetts Boston
Researchers espouse that youth are learning differently than any other generation. Many researchers believe that because youth are leading the way with technology, their technology practices impact the way that they connect with the world around them. As a result, educators examine how to successfully engage youth in learning by understanding how to tap their technology practices. This study utilizes a sociotechnical framework to bring to light emergent structures of participation during student-teacher instant messaging interactions to support learning. Analysis illuminates three emergent and fluid participation structures. These structures reflect both pedagogical models and the most current literature on how people learn.
instant messaging; net-generation; sociotechnical; learning designs;
1Utrecht University, 2University of Twente
A community has been proposed as a promising setting for teachers to deal with reforms and innovations in secondary education. Leadership is an important success factor for communities. Using a community perspective, the distribution of leadership in seven teacher teams was studied. Research questions were: what (patterns of) teacher-teacher relations can be found in teacher communities? and: what is the link between teacher community degree and (patterns of) teacher-teacher relations? Using an adapted version of the QTI, the level and homogeneity of Influence and Proximity in seven teacher communities was described. Additionally, degree of community was measured using two instruments. 1) a questionnaire to measure Community sense from the perspective of the community member. 2) a quantitative observation instrument to measure Community behavior from the perspective of the outside observer. As expected, level and homogeneity of Proximity showed a positive correlation with degree of community. Interestingly, heterogeneity of Influence correlated positively with degree of community sense while heterogeneity of influence correlated negatively with degree of community behavior. What pattern of distributed leadership is most beneficial to the community (heterogeneous or homogenous) seems to depend on who’s asked; a community member or an observing outsider. Despite being a first version, the Questionnaire of Team Interaction can be of interest for people participating in or facilitating teacher communities as it provides insight in the dynamics of a group of teachers.
teacher community; interpersonal; leadership; collaboration;
This paper describes and documents one elementary school’s experiences in achieving their environmental literacy goals, through the development of a place-based learning environment over a period of four years. In September 2008 a two-year descriptive study began at a Canadian elementary school (CES) to support and encourage environmental education in addition to helping the school realize its broad environmental learning goals. This environmental education program is part of a larger science literacy education project funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Following a participatory observer research model, Year 1 of this project is recounted from the eyes, ears and experiences of the researchers involved. After the first year there is already visible and documented evidence for the development of a supportive and positive place-based learning environment at a CES. The programs described in this paper provide us with insights for the development of place-based learning environments and enable us to track ourselves deeper into relation with the wonder of the local.
learning environments; environmental education; place-based education; constructivism; science education;
Monash University
This paper outlines part of a longitudinal research project conducted in an alternate secondary school setting based in regional Victoria, Australia. The School for Student Leadership (SSL) provides nine-week residential programs for Year 9 students focusing on leadership and personal skill development. A mixed methods approach including surveys and focus group interviews was utilised to collect data from student cohorts between 2001 and 2008, with more than 250 students participating. One of the key findings to emerge from the data was the positive impact that the program had on the building of relationships with fellow students and staff, which does not appear to be so well nurtured and supported in traditional educational settings.
secondary education; case study; mixed methods; teacher-student relationships;
Pacific University
It is agreed that caring relationships creates a supportive environment that provide children with sense of security, acceptance, belonging, and self confidence, as well as personal connection with others and a healthy social emotional development. The purpose of this study was to understand pre-school teachers’ perspectives on caring relationship as well as their classroom practices that reflect on these perspectives in two different cultural contexts, the U.S and China. Data were collected from in depth interviews, classroom observations, and the reviewing of documents. Results indicate consents in teachers’ understanding of the importance of establishing caring relationships with and among children, yet their perspectives and practice were embedded in the cultural and social contexts that they lived in.
caring; teacher-student relationships; teacher perspectives; cultural differences;
1Eindhoven University of Technology, 2Utrecht University
Aiming at a better understanding of teacher burn out and attrition, the main object of this study is the development of teacher interpersonal expertise , with a special focus on the professional identity development, one of the components of teacher expertise. Two other main components, interpersonal behavior and knowledge, are discussed elsewhere. Drawing upon the concepts of the Dynamic Systems Theory, teacher identity is seen as a system of continuous processes of change and is measured on two interrelated time-scales, micro and macro. The research will focus on the characteristics of the interpersonal component of identity and will explore how this is related by work characteristics and personal variables. The personal as well as the professional identity are object of research. In this longitudinal mixed method study, in-depth interviews and semi-structured questionnaires are conducted and analyzed according to the grounded theory approach, from which identity portraits will be constructed. Analyzing teacher’s narratives this way will enable us to gain insight in the complexity of becoming, being and staying a teacher.
Teachers interpersonal expertise; professional identity development; dynamic systems theory; narrativity;
1Utrecht University, 2 Leiden University
This current project is part of an interrelated research project that focuses on the development of teacher interpersonal expertise throughout the teaching career: Development of teacher interpersonal behavior characteristics, teacher professional knowledge, and professional identity. Based on principles of the Dynamic Systems Theory it will be explored in this part project how teacher moment-to-moment behavior and teacher interpersonal behavior characteristics are interrelated. Insight in trajectories of moment-to-moment teacher behavior will be obtained by means of State Space Grid Analysis. Information about teacher behavior characteristics will be obtained with Students’ perceptions of teacher-student relationships measured with the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction. It will also be investigated how teacher behavior characteristics are influenced by work characteristics and personal variables and how behavior characteristics relate to the quality of the teaching career.
Dynamic systems; teacher interpersonal expertise; teacher-class interaction; quality of the teaching career; QTI;
1Leiden University, 2Eindhoven University of Technology
Teacher sense of self-efficacy and ability to teach well is influenced by their capability to build positive relationships with students (Day et al, 2006). This study will focus on the development of teacher practical knowledge about teacher-student communication. We regard teacher practical knowledge as the whole of knowledge that underlies teacher actions (Verloop, van Driel, & Meijer, 2001). In the case of practical knowledge about communication this can take the form of relational schemas (Baldwin, 1992). Relational schemas are generalized cognitions based on repeated experiences in similar situations, consisting of images of self and other and a stereotyped relational pattern or script. In the study presented here, we focus on the development of these schemas throughout the teacher career. Research questions include: 1) what differences in relational schemas exist between groups of teachers at various stages of the career? And, 2) how do these relational schemas change within these groups? We will use a dynamic systems approach to investigate this change and will try to create ‘cognitive landscapes’ for each measurement time. In order to investigate change throughout the career, we will look at the development of these landscapes.
Pace University
University of Amsterdam
Catholic University Leuven
Based on attachment theory, two aims were addressed. First, we tested whether close teacher-child relationships may buffer children who are less securely attached to their mother against negative outcomes, such as aggressive behavior. Second, our study evaluated whether teacher sensitivity may protect less securely attached children against forming less close relationships with their teacher. In a sample of 127 children, mother-child attachment was observed in preschool. In kindergarten, teacher sensitivity was observed and teacher-child closeness and child aggressive behavior were rated by the teacher. Results of multilevel hierarchical regression analyses first showed that with high teacher-child closeness, less securely attached children are no longer at risk for more aggressive behavior. Second, it was found that with high teacher sensitivity, less securely attached children are no longer at risk for developing less close relationships with their teacher.
teacher-child interactions; attachment; kindergarten; teacher sensitivity;
Catholic University Leuven
Temperamental reactivity places children at risk for developing more externalizing behavior and less positive self-evaluations. However, temperamental research also stresses the role of the social environment in shaping children’s adjustment. In this short-term longitudinal study in kindergarten, the moderating role of closeness of dyadic teacher-child relationships in the relation between young children’s temperamental reactivity and indices of psychosocial adjustment (i.e., aggressive behavior and self-esteem) was examined. We expected highly reactive children to be at risk for more aggressive behavior and more negative self-evaluations, but especially under conditions of low relational closeness. High teacher-child closeness was assumed to reduce or counterbalance this risk for more aggressive behavior and more negative self-evaluations. To test this hypothesis, a sample of 169 children and their 36 kindergarten teachers in 26 schools was investigated. Teacher-child closeness was observed in the classroom using an adapted version of Pianta’s Classroom Assessment Scoring System. Two aspects of temperamental reactivity (i.e., frustration and activity) were assessed using standardized laboratory tasks. Aggressive behavior was rated at three occasions during the school year by the kindergarten teacher. Children were individually interviewed regarding their self-esteem using Marsh’s Self-Description Questionnaire. Results of multilevel analyses (moments within children within classes) generally confirmed that child reactive temperament has different implications for adjustment depending on the quality of child-teacher interactions in school. High temperamental activity was found to place children at risk for developing aggressive behavior problems, but only when teacher-child closeness was low. Likewise, high temperamental frustration predicted lower reports of self-esteem, but only under the condition of low teacher-child closeness. When teacher-child closeness was high, these risks were counterbalanced. These findings reveal the plasticity of early child development and the role teachers can play and are, therefore, important to incorporate in (psycho)education of (future) teachers.
teacher-child interactions; kindergarten; temperament; psychosocial adjustment;
University of Amsterdam
This paper investigates the association between teachers’ observed interactions with kindergarten children and their perceptions of their relationships with these children. Teachers’ relationship perceptions were described with concepts based on the attachment perspective (closeness and conflict), while teachers’ interaction behaviors were assessed with two observation scales based on the interpersonal theory (affiliation and control). The sample consisted of 192 kindergarten children with their 48 teachers. Preliminary results showed a significant negative association between conflict and affiliation. The association between closeness and affiliation was not significant. Neither was there a significant association between control and both closeness and conflict. To conclude, our findings indicated that teachers’ relationship perceptions and actual interaction behaviors are only related when conflict and affiliation are considered. Teachers tend to show less affiliation towards children with whom they reported having a conflictual relationship.
teacher-child relationships; observations; attachment theory; interpersonal theory; kindergarten;
University of Amsterdam
Research consistently shows that young children’s externalizing behavior is a strong predictor of conflictual relationships with teachers. We argued that the quality of teachers’ pedagogical practices could moderate the association between externalizing behavior and relational conflict. In 48 kindergarten classrooms, the teacher and 4 selected children participated (N=192). Pedagogical practices toward each child (i.e., teacher sensitivity and behavior management) were observed twice during a small-group activity in the classroom. In addition, teachers rated the relationship with each child along the dimensions closeness and conflict. Regression analyses showed that behavior management reduced the effect of externalizing behavior on conflict for boys. For girls, teacher sensitivity weakened the association between externalizing behavior and conflict. For closeness, no moderation effects were found. The findings indicated that responsiveness of teachers to the unique behavioral and emotional needs of children reduces the risk of conflictual relationships for behaviorally-challenging children.
teacher-child relationships; externalizing behavior; pedagogical practices; observations; kindergarten;
University of Cyprus
University of Groningen
University of Duisburg-Essen
A loss of students´ motivation, interest and performance in science learning after having changed from elementary to secondary school is a domain specific issue almost all over the world. Regarding Germany, large scale assessments show that outcomes of German students’ science learning decrease significantly when they change from primary to secondary school after grade four. E.g. in PISA 2000 and 2003 German secondary school students showed lower performance than the OECD average while in TIMSS 2007 German primary school students performed above the average of the participating countries regarding mathematics and science. This effect might be influenced by the teachers’ classroom management since it is expected to vary between elementary and secondary school teachers who have different educational backgrounds. The presented study investigates classroom management in physics lessons in a multi-perspective way. Both student and teacher variables are taken into consideration by analyzing videos of physics lessons (N =120), questionnaires and tests. The development of students’ achievements (performance, motivation and interest) during the videotaped lessons is determined by using a pre-/post-design. Previous results from students’ variables show that the expected differences between primary and secondary students’ perception of their teachers’ classroom management can be found in all considered aspects: discipline, rule clarity and prevention of disruption. Detailed information and final results will be presented at the conference.
teachers' classroom management; student perception of teacher behaviour; influence on students´ achievements; video analysis;
University of Amsterdam
This study looks into the effects of social and academic interactions in the educational environment on the engagement and achievement of students in senior secondary vocational education (SSVE) in the Netherlands, a sector confronted with high dropout rates. Our results underline the view that a sense of belonging in school should not be conceptualized in relational terms only, but also in academic terms (Martin & Dowson, 2009). The interaction with the academic program is the strongest predictor of emotional engagement of students in SSVE. Interaction with school staff appears to be less important than the current focus in dropout prevention in SSVE suggests. Whereas students’ emotional connection with school seems to be depending on their interaction with various aspects of the educational environment, students’ behavior and achievement is more dependent on their interaction concerning education with significant people in their environment outside school.
student engagement; social and academic interactions; teacher-student relationships; school connection; academic achievement
University of Groningen
Teacher-student relationships are important determinants of the classroom environment. Moreover, while problematic relationships can be detremental to students, supportive and warm interactions are supposed to be the characteristics of a productive environment. In this study, the development of supportive and warm teacher-student interactions (TSI) in mathematics and English classes (N=20) within one school year is investigated. Attention is paid to the average development (teacher involvement, autonomy support, structure support) and the deviation of individual teachers to this development based on student perceptions. In addition, the development of academic engagement of classes is studied and is linked with the development of TSI. Multilevel gowth curve modelling is applied. Results reveal not only differences between classes (TSI and engagement), but also differences over time. Teacher involvement appears to be the most stable characteristic; autonomy support the least stable one. In general, teacher involvement, autonomy and stucture support decrease over time. In addition, the decrease is more prononced for the supportive scales compared to teacher involvement. The gender of the teacher and the subject taught can not explain differences between classes, but the general ability level of the class and being a heterogeneous class do. In particular, the structure support is lower in heterogeneous classes compared to homogeneous classes and in low ability level classes compared to high ability level classes. Furthermore, the decrease in teacher involvement is less pronounced in English classes compared to mathematics classes. With respect to engagement it was found that engagement decreases over time, while the decrease becomes less pronounced over time. Differences in engagement between classes are associated with differences in teacher-student interaction between classes and, to a small degree, also with differences in the ability level of classes. In addition, the ability level of classes could explain differences in the development of engagement over time between classes.
multilevel growth modelling; engagement; teacher-student interaction; self determination theory;
Democritus University of Thrace
The purpose of this study was to investigate the application of the reciprocal causation model (Bandura, 1989) within the context of education, by examining the relationship between perceived teachers’ interpersonal behavior (Cooperation / Opposition), students’ personality (Big three model) and academic performance (teacher ratings). Specifically, the present study examined the type (bidirectional or unidirectional) and the strength of the relationship among elementary school students’ academic performance (behaviour), their personality characteristics (personal factors), and teachers’ interpersonal behaviour (environment). 273 Cypriot students and their 17 teachers participated in the study. Personality traits and perceptions of teacher interpersonal behaviour were measured through self-report instruments, while the teachers provided their professional judgments regarding students’ academic performance. Structural Equation Modeling was applied for the analyses. The main outcomes were that personal characteristics, environmental factors and behaviour, all seem to interact and to be mutually influenced, however at a different degree, by each other. The influence of the perceptions of teacher behaviour on academic performance seemed to be greater than the effect that the latter has on these perceptions. Moreover, relatively stable traits of personality seem to filter students’ perceptions of teachers’ interpersonal behaviour, and in addition, they were found to exert an influence on academic performance both directly, and through the perceptions of teachers’ behaviour. In general, the study demonstrates the usefulness of applying the reciprocal causation model within learning environments research.
reciprocal causation; students’ personality; teacher interaction; academic performance;
1North Carolina State University, 2Emory University, 3University of Auburn, 4Strayer University
The purpose of this study was to examine changes in students' relational engagement across the transition to high school in three schools reformed to improve the quality of student-teacher relationships. In order to analyze this data we employed latent growth curve (LGC) modeling techniques (n=637). We ran three LGC models on three indicators of relational engagement: perceived teacher press (Midgley & Middleton, 2002), perceived teacher support (Goodenow, 1993), and perceived school belonging (Goodenow, 1993). For each model we estimated the latent means of the observed variables, the intercept, and the slope. Our hypothesized model (See Fig. 1) for each of the variables included estimates for the contribution of team status (no team, cross-team, pure teamed), total absences in 8th grade, race (white / non-white), gender, gifted status, and socio-economic status. Alternate models were run dropping non-significant exogenous variables from the model one at a time. In each case, the hypothesized models, including five exogenous predictors, evidence poor fit. However, alternate models including fewer exogenous predictors evidenced better fit, allowed for the estimation of intercept differences and rate of change, and accounted for significant amounts of variance in relational engagement. Findings are situated within the context of school reform designed to improve relational engagement.
School Belonging; Teacher Support; Press for Understanding; Transition to High School; Adolescents; Motivation; School Context; Latent Growth Curve Modeling;
Marshall University
Leiden University
2Eindhoven University of Technology, 2Utrecht Universtity
The present study conducted a meta analysis on studies that used the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) and related the teacher-student interpersonal relationship to students’ cognitive and/or affective outcomes. Using a literature search, 37 studies reporting 110 effects of two interpersonal dimensions, control (influence) and affiliation (proximity), on student outcomes were found. Cohen’s unbiased effect size was determined for each effect, and several variables related to study characteristics and the design were coded. Results showed an overall positive effect of both dimensions on both types of outcomes, confirming reports of single studies. Also, the effect of proximity seemed larger for affective outcomes; the effect of influence seemed larger for cognitive outcomes. However, the study also highlighted a number of issues that have an effect on the association between outcomes and interpersonal behaviour, and that should be taken into account by researchers. It seems advisable to use longer QTI versions, to use interpersonal dimensions rather than (circumplex) scales to establish effects, to conduct multilevel analyses on the data and to correct for covariates, in order to obtain an unbiased effect.
The supervisor-student relationship and feedback are important in master’s thesis supervision. In this study we investigated how student perceptions of feedback and supervisor-student relationships affect outcomes of supervision. Structural equation modelling techniques were applied to examine student perceptions of the supervisor-student relationship in terms of interpersonal Influence and Proximity of their supervisor, the perceived Content and Form of the feedback they received, and outcomes of supervision on the level of Reaction, Learning, and Results. The results of the analysis indicated that both perceptions of the supervisor-student relationship and perceptions of content and form of feedback were predictors for student satisfaction and perceived learning. Students’ final grade could be partially predicted from the perceived form of feedback and perceived learning. Implications for theory are briefly discussed and some implications for practice are described.
Feedback; Research supervision; Supervisor-student relationship; Structural Equation Modeling;
Utrecht University
In this study, the association between the child-teacher relationship and children’s early mathematical achievement was investigated by analyzing data from 803 first and second graders (M = 7.5 years; SD = 8 months) in 39 classes in 23 schools. The child-teacher relationship was analyzed in terms of children’s perceptions of two concepts: Influence and Affiliation. For the study an adapted version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) was developed for children aged six to nine (the QTI Early Primary; QTI-EP). Multilevel regression analyses indicated that after correction for children’s mathematical achievement at the middle of the school year, child perceptions of teacher interpersonal behavior were positively associated with children’s mathematical achievement at the end of the school year. The effect of Affiliation on early mathematical achievement was found to be more important than for Influence. The study showed that children’s perceptions of child-teacher relationships can be measured reliably with a questionnaire during early grade school. Results provided further evidence that child-teacher relationships are important indicators for effectiveness in early childhood education.
Child-teacher relationship; Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction; Early academic outcomes; Early Mathematical Achievement; Multilevel Analyses;
Curtin University of Technology
The international program of research on interpersonal relationships in education can be considered to be an important part of the field of classroom learning environments, although it has its own distinctive and significant features. The Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI), the most-frequently used instrument in research on teacher-student relationships, follows the strong tradition in learning environments research of using the perceptions of the participants in the classroom. Not only has past research consistently replicated the advantages of positive teacher-student relationships and a positive classroom environment in terms of promoting improved student outcomes, but positive teacher-student relationships and a positive classroom environment also are worthwhile process goals of education. Because surprisingly little past research has included a measure of both teacher-student relationships and classroom environment within the same study, this paper reports several studies that have included the QTI along with a widely-used classroom environment questionnaire (e.g. My Class Inventory, MCI; What Is Happening In this Class? WIHIC). For example, when the QTI and MCI were administered together in Singapore to a sample of 1512 elementary-school students, commonality analysis was used to examine the unique contributions of the QTI and MCI in explaining student outcomes in mathematics. The analysis indicated that the magnitudes of the uniqueness and the commonality were different for the two student outcomes (attitudes and achievement). Teacher-student relationships and classroom climate each made a sizeable unique contribution to the variance in student attitudes, but not to student achievement, thus suggesting the fruitfulness of including the QTI and MCI together in future studies of student attitudes (but not studies of achievement).
Interpersonal relationships; Learning environments; Questionnaires;
1University of Koblenz Landau, 2Eindhoven University of Technology
The purpose of the study was to compare the three versions of Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) developed for the Turkish context from the point of Model Teacher Interpersonal Behaviour (MITB) and its scales. Total number 1767 students from primary, secondary and higher education participated in the study. This sample consisted of 469 (26.5 %) students from primary school, 674 (38.1 %) students from secondary school and 624 (35.3 %) students from higher education. Firstly, The Turkish version of the QTI was developed for secondary school was based on the 64-item American version. Then, this version was used as base to develop the primary and higher education versions. Adaptation of the instruments involved some similar steps for each version such as adapting the language, piloting different versions while refining the items, expert ideas, interviews with students and teachers or instructors. Interviews data and statistical analyses supported reliability and validity of the three version of the instrument for Turkish context. QTI´s different versions developed for the same culture has not been compared yet. This study might give us an opportunity to compare QTI scales and two dimensions from primary to higher education levels for an intra cultural setting besides seeing how MITB acting for different educational level. Internal consistency of the scales were found satisfactory, but the results showed that the Student Freedom scale has low alpha coefficient values in all versions and scales were measuring distinct and ordered in a circular order but somehow overlapping. Besides these, understanding how the students’ view of their teachers and compare to those of students’ perceptions in different educational level in their country may help cross cultural studies with a new outcomes.
questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI); Turkey; circumplex models; teacher-student interpersonal relationship; cultural studies;
Curtin University of Technology
Eindhoven University of Technology
1University of Tuebingen, University of Stuttgart, 2Ministery of Educatuin, Youth & Sport, Malta
"Empathy",including cognitive, affective, and behavioural capabilities contributing to meaningful, supportive communication and interpersonal functioning, is considered as one of the most important professional competencies. This study (where 136 German education-students were used) contributes to a clearer understanding of "empathy" and the characteristics of empathic persons.
Data were collected on empathy-scales (IRI, Davis, 1980; 1996) and correlated with personality-characteristics (Extraversion, Aggression, Self-Efficacy), interpersonal abilities (e.g., Nonverbal Sensitivity) and social dimensions (e.g., Success in Interpersonal Relations).
Results revealed significant associations of Personal-Distress with negatively-toned personality-dimensions (e.g., nervousness), and negative associations with positively-toned-dimensions (e.g., Extraversion; Self-Efficacy). Unlike the US-research, only few of the more advanced elements of empathy, empathic-concern, and perspective-taking were positively and significantly associated with nonverbal sensitivity-channels and factors of interpersonal success.
Consequences for the education curriculum are presented in a final section.
University of Central Florida
Many children endure bullying in silence without assistance from adults. A large number of children who are victims of bullying do not report their experiences to adults (O’Moore, Kirkham, & Smith 1997; Ziegler & Pepler, 1993). Drecktrah & Blaskowski (2003), found school staff’s perception of bullying differed from students’ perceptions. At the elementary level, the school staff estimated that 7.1% of students were bullied compared to 69.6% of the elementary students who reported they had been bullied. At the middle school, the staff estimated that 8% of the students had been bullied compared to 65.7% of the students that had reported being bullied. The definition of bullying was the same for both the students and staff. This is a consistent indication that the school staff did not recognize the extent of the bullying problem that students face in their school. The current study investigated teacher perceptions concerning bullying and victimization in one northeastern school district at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The study analysis explored data collected from 238 practicing teachers, utilizing an adaptive survey from Noelle Bidwell’s study (1997). The teacher responses from the survey were originally analyzed across demographic variables: gender, teaching grade levels, years of teaching experience, years teaching in current school, and teaching in an academic or non-academic setting with specific focus on perceptions indicated by items in the survey and, where appropriate, relations that exist between or among items. For the purpose of this paper, one demographic variable was analyzed, teaching grade levels. The initial analyses were non-parametric comparisons owing to non-normality (unequal N’s) and lack of homogeneity of responses. Initial analyses utilized chi square and where appropriate the chi square nulls were tested against expected values as predicted in the literature. The analyses of this study revealed several significant differences that were developed into emerging themes. For the purpose of this paper, only one of these emerging themes will be discussed, Recognition of Serious Bullying Peaks at the Middle School. This theme has three interrelated parts, which will be discussed in the conclusion of this paper. First, recognition of bullying looks different at different grade levels. Although recognition of bullying was more prevalent at the middle school level, this could lead one to believe that bullying increases between the elementary and middle school. The majority of research (Whitney & Smith, 1993, Zeigler & Rosenstein-Manner, 1991, and Zindi, 1994) dealing with bullying and victimization problems indicates the importance of looking for early warning signs in the early developmental years of the children. There is a strong belief, supported by research evidence, that students identified early can be taught acceptable social behaviors during these early developmental years that will decrease bullying in our schools. The second interrelated part of this theme is elementary teachers are least likely to recognize bullying as a serious problem. Although research indicates bullying is developmental and recognized more in early adolescence, other research suggests elementary teachers are the key to recognizing early warning signs of inappropriate behaviors. A third and last aspect of this theme is elementary teachers recognize peers bully their peers more often than middle school teachers do. Although the majority of teachers recognize that most bullies were in the same class and/or grade level as the victim, a vast majority of elementary teachers acknowledged this more. This leaves one to believe that although elementary teachers realize that bullies are in the same class as their peers, elementary teachers are unable to recognize the bullies or consider bullying to be a serious problem. Therefore, bullying peaks at the middle school.
bullying; victimization; elementary social behavior; middle school bullying; teacher perceptions;
Monash University
More than 60% of Australian teachers have been identified as sometimes employing aggressive techniques in their classroom interactions with students. Using surveys with a sample of Australian teachers (N = 281), we undertook to identify levels of self-reported teacher aggression, and differences in aggression for elementary vs. secondary teachers, men vs. women, and teachers having undergraduate Bachelor vs. graduate-entry teaching qualifications. Correlations between dimensions of personality, unconscious motives, role stress, self-efficacy for managing difficult student behaviour, and burnout symptoms were explored. Open-ended responses were further coded in terms of aggressive behaviours, for participants’ self-reported “actual” and “feared” teacher selves, to examine the salience of aggression for open-ended questions, and to further elaborate cases of those teachers identified as most aggressive in their self-reported survey items. Reported aggression by new teachers was found to be similar to current literature, however, their aggressive behaviours were not salient for them. The challenge for researchers and teacher educators posed by these findings is that we cannot overlook or ignore the implications of teachers’ aggressive student management techniques.
Teacher Aggression; Classroom Relationships; Classroom Management
University of Stirling
Using evidence from a recent empirical study which explores the social interactions of early years children as they engage with technology in preschool playrooms, this paper highlights how children’s own characteristics influence the level of interaction and collaboration which occurs around technology in preschool playrooms. Using an inclusive definition of technology and expanding upon previous work which explored children’s positions and membership categorisation in groups, this work demonstrated that the concept of ‘owner’, ‘participant’ and ‘spectator’ was not specific to computer use but could be extended to other forms of technology. Furthermore data showed that the social dynamics around technology were diverse with varying degrees of engagement by group members ranging from complete solitary play to episodes which had multiple owners, participants and spectators simultaneously. In addition, evidence shows that participants, not just owners, held power to direct levels of inclusion and participation. In essence this paper demonstrates that social interactions are mediated by social relationships and are not solely determined by the technology.
Social Interaction; Early Years Education; Technology; Power;
University of Massachusetts, Boston
Utrecht University
1Leiden University, 2Utrecht University
Students’ perceptions of teacher interpersonal control and affiliation are important for the character of the classroom climate. Research showed that perceptions of teacher control usually increase during the first years of teaching, whereas affiliation perceptions usually remain stable during the teaching career. This study wants to contribute to the understanding of this development, by comparing the nonverbal behavioral repertoire of student-teachers and experienced teachers. Lessons of 27 student-teachers and 27 experienced teachers were videotaped. From these videotapes, eighteen 8-second clips were selected that were scored for 11 nonverbal behaviors. Scores were aggregated into a percentage of the clips in which specific nonverbal behaviors were visible. T-tests were used to analyze the differences between student-teachers and experienced teachers. Experienced teachers used more emphasis on words when addressing the class and had more uninterrupted eye contact. During recitation they approached the students. No significant differences were found for smiling between both groups of teachers, which is the most important nonverbal behavior for affiliation perceptions. During the teaching career, teachers indeed seem to develop a nonverbal behavioral repertoire that may be related to higher control perceptions.
1University of Groningen, 2Eindhoven University of Technology
This paper presents an illustration of a developmental trend of teacher-students interpersonal relationship in Mathematics and English classes during the first year of secondary education. Students perceptions were gathered using the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) and were mapped in terms of two dimensions: Influence and Proximity. Measures were taken four times a year, from 566 students of 20 Mathematics and English classes, from 3 Dutch secondary schools. The preliminary results show that teacher-students interpersonal relationships decrease continuously throughout the school year: a dramatic change is more evident for Proximity than that for Influence. In addition, there is an indication that students perceptions seemed to change from occasion to occasion during a school year.
Teacher-student interpersonal behavior; student perceptions; dynamic systems; secondary education;
1Leiden University, 2Utrecht University
Many teachers in secondary education in the Netherlands fail to reach retirement age in their profession. With a view to impending teacher shortages in the Netherlands, this is an alarming fact. In this study, we looked at two veteran teachers with high motivation in order to establish to what degree the development of teacher-student relations over the course of their careers have determined their current job satisfaction. The two teachers were interviewed at length with the aid of the storyline method, focusing on teachers’ stories and ways in which teachers construe their experiences and events they have come across in their teaching practice (Kelchtermans, 1994). The teachers’ story data have been compared with data collected with the QTI (Wubbels et al., 2006) at several points in their careers. A striking fact is that the data collected with the QTI show that both teachers, in the course of their careers, are increasingly perceived by their students as being ‘over and above’ them, with one teacher being perceived as being increasingly ‘together with’ them over time, and the other teacher being perceived as increasingly ‘against’ them. The teacher that was perceived as being more ‘together with’ the students prefers her teaching tasks, whereas the teacher who is being perceived as being more ‘against’ the students has decreased her teaching tasks and taken on more school management tasks. These findings might indicate that ways in which veteran teachers retain job satisfaction may differ considerably, a finding that had already been found by Day et al.. The present study shows that the appreciation of teacher-student relations is a factor that proves to be decisive for the one teacher whereas it is only of secondary importance to the other.
teacher satisfaction; teacher-student interpersonal relationship; veteran teachers;
Utrecht University
This paper addresses the study of stability and variability in teacher-class interaction at the moment-to-moment level. Two classrooms that differed in terms of the quality of the teacher-class relationship were compared by using a graphical approach to observational data, State Space Grids (Lewis, Lamey, & Douglas, 1999). Moment-to-moment interaction was depicted and summarized, and thus the content (e.g., interpersonal standing of teacher and class) and structure (e.g., stability and variability) of the interaction are addressed. Differences between the classrooms were already apparent during the first classroom lesson of the school year and became more pronounced during the second and third lesson.
1Leiden University, 2Utrecht University
Interpersonal schemas, known to play an important role in people’s ability to adequately operate in social life, were investigated by presenting teachers vignettes in which teacher behaviour was shortly described, and then asking them to describe the pupil responses they anticipate. In order to find out which, if any, patterns in teacher-pupil interaction expectancies teachers have, we asked 46 teachers to described anticipated pupil responses in twenty teacher behaviour vignettes for two of their classes (favourite and least favourite). Another research question we wanted to answer was whether or not patterns of teacher-student interaction expectancies differed for dissimilar classes. According to interpersonal theories, in general behaviour-response interactions follow complementary patterns on two dimensions (Control and Affiliation). We found three clear expectancy patterns in three clusters of vignettes: Complementarity in high control teacher behaviour vignettes (in favourite as well as least favourite classes); Complementarity in low control/high affiliation teacher behaviour vignettes (only in favourite classes); Complementarity on control, anti-complementarity on affiliation in high control/low affiliation teacher behaviour vignettes (both classes).
teacher-student interaction; interpersonal theory; complementarity; interpersonal schemas; expectancy patternsl;
Stanford University
Chignecto-Central Regional School Board
University of Auckland
Calls for more instructional leadership will not produce the intended changes unless educational leaders have the confidence and skills needed to engage in productive and respectful conversations about the quality of teaching and learning. There is considerable empirical and theoretical evidence to suggest that such conversations are either avoided or less effective than intended. The theoretical framework of Argyris and Schön was used to develop an assessment of the interpersonal effectiveness of leaders in such conversations. Five behavioral indicators representing a progression of skill on six different dimensions were developed. The tool was used by the authors to assess a representative sample of 30 newly appointed school principals in a conversation with a parent who was complaining about the teaching of her daughter. Findings showed that the principals were, on average, more skilled in advocating their own position than in deeply inquiring into and checking their understanding of the views of the parent. They also had difficulty respectfully challenging the parent’s assumptions about the situation and reaching a shared understanding of what to do next. Principals each viewed the video of their own conversation and made a written self-assessment of their performance in the conversation using a standardized format. Findings indicate principals typically rated themselves as more effective that the authors did, though principals were aware of the difficulties they had and were able to identify specific challenges that aligned to some extent with the authors’ ratings. Detailed suggestions are made about the further research that is needed for the development and evaluation of the interpersonal skills required to enhance instructional leadership.
Leadership; Interpersonal Effectiveness; Communication; Self-Assessment;
1University of Amsterdam, 2University of California-San Diego, 3University of Twente
Social network analysis is growing rapidly as a technique to study interpersonal relationships in organizations, building on the idea that an optimal configuration of interpersonal relationships in a network may facilitate the exchange of resources and knowledge and contribute to innovation. Collaborative structures among teachers to support professional development and school improvement, such as professional learning communities, are receiving increased attention. However, knowledge on the social networks of interpersonal relationships among teachers underlying these communities is scarce. Moreover, empirical evidence of the relationship between social linkages and innovation in education is scarce. The goal of this study was to examine the impact of characteristics of teachers’ social networks on their orientation towards innovation, as mediated by teachers’ involvement in decision-making. This paper reports on a survey study among 751 educators in 47 elementary schools in the Netherlands. Results indicated that density of social networks is positively related to schools’ orientation towards innovation. Moreover, this relationship is partially explained by increased teacher involvement. Implications are discussed in regard to teachers, organizations, leadership, and policy.
Social Network; Innovation; Teacher Involvement; School Organization;
University of Cyprus
This paper provides a critical review of theoretical models of educational effectiveness and claims that there is a need to expand them. An effectiveness study investigating the impact of teacher and principle interpersonal behaviour on language achievement of grade 11 students was conducted. Student achievement was measured at the beginning and at the end of school year 2005-2006. The Greek versions of QTI and QPI were validated and used to measure teacher and principle interpersonal behaviour, respectively. Multilevel SEM analysis revealed that principal interpersonal behaviour has no effect on teachers interpersonal behaviour whereas teacher interpersonal behaviour has a statistically significant effect on student achievement. Implications of findings are drawn.
University of Notre Dame
This project aims to identify the effects of teacher-principal relationships on school ethos. Social psychological theories about affect and relationship cohesion and commitment help to explain the interactions between faculty at elementary schools. This relationship mechanism, and the factors which describe the process, explain the school community climate and ethos. Using a combination of structural equation modeling, the first set of analyses focuses on the processes and effects related to these relationships on principals and their commitment to principalship. Using ordinary least squares regressions, the second set of analyses uses the factors related to dedication and the strength of the staff relationships to explain the overall school ethos.
Principal effects; school climate; relationship cohesion; affect theory;
..