Positive Teacher-Student Relationship Building and Its Effects on Motivation, Learning, and Teacher Well-being

Abstract

This study investigates the ways in which teachers in secondary education settings build positive teacher-student interpersonal relationships (TSRs) and how those relationships may affect student motivation, learning, and teacher well-being. There have been studies on teacher well-being in the context of how their well-being serves students, on how students can be motivated to participate and learn in class through classroom management, however, this study explores these topics through the lens of the relationships formed between teacher and student for the benefit of both the teacher and the student. To discover how secondary educators build these positive teacher-student relationships, and what affects the teachers believe that they have, teachers completed a Likert scale and short answer survey. Following that survey, three teachers were selected, interviewed for their perceptions on teacher-student relationships, and observed in order to support the data collected from their interviews.