Teacher-student relationships: Separating the wheat from the chaff

School belonging encompasses the degree to which learners feel personally accepted, respected, included and supported by others in the school social environment.

It is what makes learners feel psychologically attached and makes them want to go to school every day. This is influenced by many factors, Teacher-student relationships foremost. Positive and supportive teacher-student relationships ultimately increase the sense of belonging and inspire learners to willingly take part in different activities in the school.

The relationship between teacher and student is therefore one of the most influential factors in a learning environment. It is a key facet in the trajectory of students' progress, social development and academic motivation. Educators have long known that the relationship with a teacher can be critically important to how well students learn.

Review of several educational research papers show that teacher-student relationships are linked with improvements on practically every parameter schools care about: higher academic participation, attendance, grades, fewer disruptive behaviours and suspensions, and lower school dropout rates. These effects still stood even after controlling the differences in students' individual, family, and school backgrounds.

In teaching, like many professions (Health, Banking, Sales etc.), the relationship between people is key to getting the job done. It goes with the territory. This is even more so in teaching as the raw material and product in education are all people. Students spend more than 1000 hours with their teachers in a typical school year. Therefore the teacher-student relationship is almost inevitable.

As the teacher-student relationship is key in the school environment, it is imperative to separate the wheat from the chaff. It is critical that as we condemn and put measures in place to check the unfortunate behaviour of some teachers sleeping with their students, we don’t also cloud the vast benefits of teacher-students relationship both academically and socially for the learner.

Being in an amorous relationship with students, however consenting, is illegal under the GES code of ethics for teachers and any sexual relationship between a student and a teacher can lead to the teacher’s instant dismissal. I’m not and will never challenge the rightness of this at any moment. Teachers are in positions of trusted authority and, of course, they’ll sometimes be the objects of student advances which may not be any fault of theirs.

When a teacher stands in front of a classroom, is intelligent, confident in their teaching, listens, communicates well and is passionate about their subject, it is very understandable that they would be admired and have occasional advances from students of the opposite sex.

This is heightened when teachers dress decently, have great command and understanding of subjects they teach that students see as difficult. However, teachers must never abuse the authority and power of their position or compromise their delicate role in the lives of young people, never.

This article is not in any way to defend or deny the presence of the negatives of teacher-student relationships and their dire consequences on students. Of course not. What I seek to do is to bring our minds to the fact that the teacher-student relationship is still key to student success and there are good, responsible teachers who are playing roles beneficial to students because of the good relationship they have with them. Below are some key benefits of teacher-student relationships.

Teachers are like second parents.

The general belief is that the teachers’ primary role is to direct students to knowledge and assist them to judge what is right and wrong. But on other hand, teachers play the role of second parents to students.

Students are from diverse backgrounds. Some of them are from broken homes, while others don’t have parents and live with immediate relatives with no one close enough for them to share their issues with. This sometimes affects their learning, making them have difficulties in school. The teacher as a second parent can step in to somehow help solve their problems. There are students who feel comfortable to voluntarily share their problems with their teachers and are ready to listen and obey teachers than they would their parents at home.

Teachers as second parents support their students by giving the proper guidance and are ready to discipline students so they don’t go wayward. All dormitories are divided into houses with house parents (housemasters/mistresses) who oversee students welfare and development. Form masters also support in these roles. Once students feel that these teachers appreciate their developmental challenges, and are readily available to offer assistance, they will trust them more and open up to them.

Students spend more quality time in school than at home. Some parents do not have time to engage in deep conversation with their children to understand their educational, emotional, and social problems. Some students also stay in boarding houses from basic school to university. It is teachers who therefore have to take on these parental responsibilities neglected by actual parents.

It is important we don’t make students see their teachers as predators ready to prey on their body at the least opportunity. This requires teachers also respecting themselves by treating students as children or younger siblings and acting responsibly in the confines of their professional code of conduct.

The teacher-student relationship is paramount in a student’s social maturation process.

Teacher-student relationships create an avenue for students to cultivate a positive rapport with a non-parental authority figure. By this, students are able to define themselves, boost their confidence and grow their emotional and social intelligence. It takes courage and determination for learners to address a teacher privately to let them know their emotional or social challenges and how much doing well in their academics matters to them and teachers value that boldness and display of maturity.

To some students, the only authority figure they can look up to, learn from and boldly talk about their sensitive issues with are teachers. And how they relate with teachers influence and shape their social development and moral orientation.

This fact is affirmed by Peter Riddle founder of Empowered Learning Transformation Centers (ELTC). He states that; “Positive relationships with teachers become game-changers for students. In my 37-year experience, I have worked with thousands of youngsters and adults with learning and behaviour disorders. The common thread with all of these people is that emotional intelligence increases when individuals are challenged to perform and function at their very best in the midst of a safe, structured environment.”

A good teacher-student relationship is critical to academic success.

There is a great deal of literature that provides substantial confirmation that strong relationships between teachers and students are key components to the healthy academic progress of students.

It is common to see students who struggle academically to have the most challenging relationships with their teachers, which compounds their issues with performance. When students are encouraged to work on building positive relationships with their teachers and are also helped to engage teachers in specific subjects they are struggling with in a positive way, there is an increase in their scores. This is contributed by the good relationship with the teachers of these subjects.

Other studies show that teachers who are engaged by students who proactively work at their relationships with them are likely to get higher scores than others. Students who have good relationships with teachers are more motivated to attend classes if they know their teacher cares about them and will help them succeed. It is an excellent way to fight chronic absenteeism.

It is unfortunate and condemnable for some teachers to have amorous relationships in any shape or form with their students. This cannot be denied as there have been several reports of such incidence by GES. However, not all teachers are in such a relationship with their students. If the relationship between teacher and student is positive, it has several benefits at all levels of an educational establishment, inside the classroom and across the whole school environment.

If the impression is created that all teacher-student relationships, especially between male teachers and female students, are about sex, some educators and other teachers, as well as society, will be suspicious of every teacher who is close to his students. Hence the good, responsible teachers are also going to totally withdraw or be reluctant to assist students in other to protect their integrity. As a result, all these benefits from teacher-students relationships which are valuable to the student are going to be lost.