Factors That Foster Healthy Relationships in the Classroom
Teachers do more in the classroom than simply instruct course material. They also teach social skills, resolve conflict and forge meaningful relationships with students. Teachers are the most effective when they maintain healthy relationships with students and encourage strong peer relationships among them. Students are easier to instruct when they trust the teacher and feel comfortable and happy around her. Strong student-to-student relationships also cut down on disruptive behavior and help to facilitate an effective learning environment.
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Clear Expectations
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Students value their relationships with their teachers and each other. Most want to flourish both socially and academically. Establishing clear expectations for classroom behavior is important in fostering healthy relationships in the classroom. Teaching students what to expect increases student participation in the learning process and sparks their imaginations, builds social confidence and improves academic achievement. In his 2010 article "Can School Structure Improve Teacher-Student Relationships?" in the Education Policy Analysis Archives, Dr. Larry McClure notes that "young people who are engaged emotionally, cognitively and behaviorally in their education are less likely to show signs of alienation" than those who are engaged at the cognitive level alone.
Consistent Feedback
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Feedback is one of the brain's primary learning mechanisms. Feedback occurs when a person receives a positive or negative response as a result of a particular action. This response can take the form of commentary on the student's work indicating approval or disapproval or of concrete rewards and punishments, such as extra recreational time or withdrawal of privileges. Students need consistent feedback to learn proper behavior. Teachers who praise students regularly for academic and social achievements strengthen their relationships with students. Effective teachers can also use feedback to facilitate healthy peer-to-peer relationships by encouraging positive social interactions and discouraging antisocial behavioral patterns.
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Expression
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Students need adequate time to express their personalities within the classroom setting. Teachers can meet this need through organizing classroom discussion, group activities, creative projects and individual discussions between the student and teacher. These activities foster expression by giving students time to interact with one another and with the teacher in less structured and more relaxed settings than classroom lectures. Students who are not given the opportunity to communicate their ideas and values cannot form meaningful relationships with teachers or peers. Allowing for student expression requires a flexibility on the teacher's part that is gained through experience and practice.
Conflict Resolution
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In her 2009 study "Supporting Adolescent Emotional Health in Schools: A Mixed Methods Study of Student and Staff Views in England," Dr. Judi Kidger and colleagues at the University of Bristol's Department of Social Medicine found that many students feel alienated in times of peer or student-teacher conflict. Students lamented the lack of "school-based help sources that were confidential, available to all and sympathetic." Many students felt that the means of conflict resolution available to them carried a stigma and that school-based resources were biased in their assessments of student-teacher conflict. Students and teachers must continue to learn effective conflict resolution strategies in order to protect their healthy relationships.
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References
- International Journal of Instruction: The Contributions of Teachers' Credintialing Routes and Experience Levels on Classroom Management
- Education Policy Analysis Archives; Can School Structures Improve Teacher-Student Relationships? The Relationship Between Advisory Programs, Personalization, and Students' Academic Achievement
- BioMed Central: Supporting Adolescent Emotional Health in Schools: A Mixed Method Study of Student and Staff Views in England; Judi Kidger, et. al.; October 2009
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images
