What are the developmental differences associated with teacher-child relationships?
Teacher-student relationships are as important to adolescents as they are to younger students. Feeling a connection and sense of relatedness to a teacher represents an essential need of all children and teens (Gregory & Ripski, 2008). However, it is worth noting that the nature of positive teacher-student relationships changes depending on the age of the child involved. In other words, the precise behaviors that might be perceived by a kindergarten child as nurturing and caring (e.g., a doting smile, a one-armed hug) might be perceived by adolescents as over-involved and cloying. It is also important to realize that in the early years of school, students’ perception of their relationship with teachers and teachers’ perception of those same relationships are quite similar. As children grow and develop, the gap between their perceptions of teachers and teachers’ perception of them grows and widens (McCombs & Miller, 2006).
Teacher-student relationships are as important to adolescents as they are to younger students. Feeling a connection and sense of relatedness to a teacher represents an essential need of all children and teens (Gregory & Ripski, 2008). However, it is worth noting that the nature of positive teacher-student relationships changes depending on the age of the child involved. In other words, the precise behaviors that might be perceived by a kindergarten child as nurturing and caring (e.g., a doting smile, a one-armed hug) might be perceived by adolescents as over-involved and cloying. It is also important to realize that in the early years of school, students’ perception of their relationship with teachers and teachers’ perception of those same relationships are quite similar. As children grow and develop, the gap between their perceptions of teachers and teachers’ perception of them grows and widens (McCombs & Miller, 2006). Students experience stressors as they grow and develop. Positive,
