Modelling teachers’ caring behaviour through the lens of high school students

ABSTRACT

Students’ positive perceptions of teachers’ caring behaviour have favourable outcomes, yet they have been little researched, especially in an Asian context. This study aims to establish a model explaining teachers’ caring behaviour (TCB) by testing multiple indicators. The survey instrument was administered to 296 students, whose responses were analysed using variance-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results proved that modelling, teacher-student interactions (TSI), pedagogical caring (PC), and teachers’ dispositions (TD) were significantly associated with TCB. Findings suggest that TCB would have a positive impact on the academic development and well-being of students.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher caring behaviour
• modelling
• teacher-student interactions
• pedagogical caring
• teacher disposition

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Prof. T. Ramayah for his valuable comments and insights. Our gratitude goes to Professor Wiel Veugelers, Associate Editor of JME and two JME anonymous referees for their insightful comments and suggestions. We are also very grateful to the wonderful girls who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

N. Ilhavenil

Dr. N. Ilhavenil is currently attached to the Curriculum Development Division, Ministry of Education and is in charge of the Research and Classroom Assessment Unit in the Sector of Policy and Research Curriculum. She has been in the education field for 30 years.

K. L. Aravindan

Dr. K. L. Aravindan is presently an Academic Professional at the Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Malaysia, specialising in Marketing and Management studies as well as SEM-PLS. He has been in the education field for more than 12 years.