Since the beginning of time, teachers have been put on the pedestal of being God in our society and the consequence is there has always been an inherent power imbalance between teachers and students, which creates potential barriers between them. Because of not having a liberal relation, teacher and students fail to produce the best result out of their classroom interactions.
Hence, teachers, who care for students, should establish a cordial relation with them. It will motivate them to be more successful in learning their contents. Having a positive teacher student relationship can influence the development of ‘considerate’ behaviors such as cooperation and altruism among them.
Traditionally students were viewed as inactive recipients of knowledge who always say yes to academic demands without questioning. Information technology with changing time has brought a more relaxed atmosphere among the students. The ‘Guru-Shishya’ authoritarianism is gone. The fear factor is missing. Students want their holistic development. That’s why the teacher’s role has become more important.
Positive and healthy relationships between teachers and
students can be extremely beneficial at all levels of an
educational establishment, within the classroom and
across the school environment as a whole
Educational and school policies should take this into consideration to reinforce teacher-student relationship. It is how the student perceives the relationship that is most important for behavior. Students who saw themselves as having a more positive relationship with their teacher engaged in fewer aggressive behaviors right up to age 16. Most adults remember some teachers that they admired and that fit their learning needs, and others that they felt had let them down. This is not necessarily only because they have more or less supportive teachers. Each child will respond differently to a teacher’s style and personality. Once a child develops an impression of a teacher, one way or the other, it can have significant long-term effects on their behavior. Ideally, building healthy and supportive teacher-student relationships should become part of the curriculum in teacher training and intervention programmes as a way of improving adolescent well-being.
Teachers and education administrators found that going through training gave students better understanding of the teachers' roles. Teachers should develop deeper relationships with students, interact with students in a more positive way during class, communicate information assignments to students more clearly, generate better questions to stimulate student voice, and create more collaborative learning environments for students. Students aren’t the only ones that benefit from healthy student-teacher relationships. One primary benefit for the educator is that, as teachers work strategically to develop these relationships, they improve their interpersonal and professional skills as well.
Teaching is a profession that requires the ability to clearly communicate information even during stress-inducing scenarios. It is important for teachers to find ways to successfully manage stress, in order to express concepts and avoid frustration. For some educators, improving their interpersonal communication skills helps to reduce stress and develop positive student-teacher relationships, in addition to positive relationships with parents and co-workers. An added benefit of improved interpersonal skills includes personal and professional growth, which may be positively reflected in an educator’s level of communication with students and the amount of student engagement that occurs as a result of it. Clearly, there are many significant benefits of positive student-teacher relationships.
Teachers who cultivate empathy for and with their students are able to manage students' behavior and academic engagement better. Trying to suppress biases about students can sometimes make them worse, but practicing perspective-taking—actively imagining how a student might perceive or be affected by a situation—can reduce bias and deepen teacher-student relationships.
Positive and healthy relationships between teachers and students can be extremely beneficial at all levels of an educational establishment, within the classroom and across the school environment as a whole. From improved self-esteem to increased engagement, there are a number of benefits of establishing positive student-teacher relationships between educators and pupils of all ages. Educators and students can experience these benefits with the use of methods that include communicating positive expectations, demonstrating caring, and developing classroom pride. As positive student-teacher relationships continue to develop, the long-lasting effects benefit not only students and teachers but parents and administrators as well.
Teachers are able to effectively communicate with their class and when students feel a sense of classroom pride and, engagement occurs. A classroom in which students and teachers can focus on education rather than disturbances is one in which they both can thrive. People sometimes mistake a kind of casual familiarity and friendliness for the promotion of really deep relationships that are about a child's potential, their interests, their strengths, and weaknesses. Strong teacher-student relationships were associated in both the short- and long-term with improvements on practically every measure schools care about: higher student academic engagement, attendance, grades, fewer disruptive behaviors and suspensions, and lower school dropout rates.
Gazi Md Abdur Rashid is research officer at the District Education Office (Secondary) in Munshiganj
