TTAUSNZ Strengthening teacher-student relationships
5 minute read…
It goes without saying that strong teacher-student relationships are key to the academic progress and attainment of every child and young person, from kindergarten, up to Year 12 and beyond.
But these relationships impact more than just academic performance: now, more than ever, we’re also seeing teachers focusing on the emotional well-being and mental health of their students, equipping them with the tools they need to fulfil their potential socially, emotionally and personally, as well as academically.
They understand that strong bonds built on trust and mutual respect are central to improving well-being, reducing the likelihood of unwanted behaviours, and ensuring the happiness of every child and young person in their care.
With that in mind, schools are always looking for ways to strengthen teacher-student relationships, and create supportive, positive environments where all can thrive. However, this is sometimes easier said than done.
Barriers to building strong teacher-student relationships
Many schools already do a fantastic job of prioritising the formation of strong teacher-student bonds, but sometimes, despite everyone’s best intentions, relationship-building can slip down the to-do list.
As everyone involved in education would no doubt agree, teaching is a rewarding yet challenging career, and just like their counterparts in other areas of the world, many teachers across Australia and New Zealand are buckling under the weight of heavy teaching workloads, extreme staff shortages, extensive personalised curriculum planning, and onerous administrative tasks. Sadly, many states are also seeing an increase in occupational and peer-on-peer violence.
These many and varied factors are taking their toll on teachers’ mental and physical health, making it feel impossible to focus on relationships while juggling so many competing responsibilities.
Every context is different, too, and every school community has its own view of how the teacher-student dynamic should look. Some settings – and, indeed, some parents and carers – favour a hierarchical structure, with teachers ‘at the top’, whereas others adopt a more egalitarian approach. Every school’s unique perspective can affect areas such as behaviour support, and can influence the strength, or otherwise, of teacher-student relationships in school.
Practical steps to strengthen teacher-student relationships
Strong connections between teachers and students have positive and enduring implications for outcomes, both within and beyond the school building, so it’s in everyone’s interests to prioritise teacher-student relationships. The question is: what practical steps can we take to achieve this?
1: Develop a culture of understanding
Strong teacher-student relationships can only flourish within a wider, whole-school culture of understanding and compassion. This is particularly the case when it comes to behaviour support. With frameworks such as the PBL (Positive Behaviour for Learning) outlining different tiers of support, schools are already provided with guidance around the most appropriate interventions, led by need. This can be a useful starting point for conversations around behaviour in our contexts.
Rather than viewing any behaviour as intrinsically positive or negative, good or bad, it can be helpful, instead, to understand all behaviour as the communication of an unmet need. This perspective can be a catalyst for shifting mindsets around what goes on inside our classrooms on a daily basis. For example, rather than describing students’ behaviour as ‘challenging’ or ‘difficult’, we can reframe it as ‘distressed’ or ‘anxious’, the result of an underlying need. This enables us to approach situations with curiosity, empathy, and a desire to support.
Of course, a culture of understanding is not the same as a culture of permissiveness: clear, fair boundaries and parameters are a fundamental part of any supportive, positive environment, and underpin every strong teacher-student relationship. However, when we truly understand that every behaviour is an attempt to express a need, within a wider trauma-informed culture, we can begin to look beyond what we see externally, and identify the underlying factors that are driving that behaviour. Only then, can we make informed decisions about the best and most appropriate support.
2: Develop a restorative practice
Sometimes, things can and do go wrong in the classroom, and relationships can become strained, or even severely damaged, between teachers and their students. With so many different factors at play, relationships are constantly tested, sometimes to breaking point, particularly with students who engage in behaviours that need support due to underlying trauma.
How we deal with issues after they occur can make an enormous difference to teacher-student relationships. Rather than moving on without addressing what has happened, it’s vital to acknowledge when things go wrong, and shift our focus from blame, judgement, or defensiveness, to reflection, restoration, and repair.
This is not easy, especially where great damage has been caused. However, creating clear, simple, and effective systems for restorative conversations between teachers and students can help to quickly re-build trust and mend fractured relationships, so that the impact of any incidents is contained, and everyone can move on together in a positive way.
3: Be readily available
As busy professionals, it can feel hard to carve out the time to be physically and emotionally present for our students. While this may be more achievable in smaller schools, with fewer students on roll, it can be more challenging in larger settings.
However, greeting individuals by name as they arrive every morning, making the most of incidental opportunities for connection, or reassuring them that we are there to listen if they need us, can make an enormous difference to the teacher-student relationship.
By being available when things are calm, as well as during more challenging moments, our message is clear: I care about you, I always want what’s best for you, and I’m here to help and guide you. Over time, this helps to instil deep feelings of trust, and lets students know that they matter to us.
4: Get to know students
Good relationships are built on familiarity, so it’s important to get to know our students: their likes and dislikes, interests, areas of strength, and so on. By gaining insight into what makes them tick, we can tap into this knowledge, and use it to connect with them, something that is especially important in times of crisis.
Not every child or young person has someone outside of school that takes an interest in their life; we might be the only adult who is willing to find out all about them. Feeling seen and valued for who they are raises feelings of self-esteem and self-worth, reduces the likelihood of unwanted behaviours, and helps them feel safe and secure in the learning environment.
Teacher-student relationships as key to success
Building professional relationships can be a tricky balancing act: on the one hand, we want students to know that we care for them, and that we are interested in them, but on the other hand, we are not there to be their ‘friend’.
Authentic, strong teacher-student relationships transcend just familiarity and friendliness: they are built on a solid foundation of trust and respect, where we value connection over correction, and where we approach every situation with curiosity, compassion and understanding.
