“My Teacher Helps Me”: Assessing Teacher-Child Relationships From the Child’s Perspective

ABSTRACT

The current study is one of the first to investigate children’s perceptions of quality in teacher-child relationships using a narrative measure. It is also one of the first studies to investigate how the child’s report is associated with the teacher’s report and with an observer’s report of quality in teacher-child interactions. Participants included 45 students and nine teachers in preschool, kindergarten, and 1st-grade classrooms. Results indicated the child’s report of teacher support was positively associated with the emotional support observed in the classroom but was not significantly associated with the teacher’s report of relationship quality. Child language and gender were associated with quality in teacher-child relationships, but child ethnicity was not. Girls and children with higher language scores reported receiving more support from their teachers. This study has important implications for teachers and for research. The child’s report provides a unique perspective on teacher-child relationship quality and could be used to enhance teachers’ reflections on their practice, as well as to inform future research on quality in early childhood settings.

KEYWORDS:

• Child’s perspective
• early childhood
• teacher-child relationships