At risk students and teacher-student relationships: student characteristics, attitudes to school and classroom climate

Abstract

Student characteristics, their attitude to school and classroom climate can influence teacher-student relationships and adjustment to school. Poor early school experiences are associated with school avoidance, disruptive behaviour, teacher conflict, and suspension and exclusion. The focus, however, remains on the behaviour of individual children, rather than seeing behaviour as the result of interactions between individuals and their pedagogical contexts. This paper presents findings from the first year of an Australian longitudinal project tracking 240 children (101 boys, 139 girls) from high suspending primary schools serving disadvantaged communities through the first six years of school. Analyses, using multiple measures, including classroom observations, assessments and questionnaires, and multiple informants, such as teacher and child reports, explore associations between child characteristics, children’s attitudes to school, teacher-student relationship quality and the quality of classroom interactions as children commence school. Findings point to the importance of self-regulation as children transition to school and the pivotal role of inclusive and emotionally supportive classroom contexts in supporting the development of positive teacher-student relationships in the first year of school.