Teachers hold the highest regard for students after their
parents. All cultures and religions preach that students are
supposed to respect their teachers and should try to learn
from them not only what’s there in the academic
curriculum but also the values of life. Teachers have an
important role in building the personality of students and
the relationship they develop with them determines the
student’s academic and personal growth.
A positive teacher student relationship could be developed
by encouraging a learning environment where the student
feels free to ask whatever he wants to and the teacher
responds in a manner which is understandable by the
student. Therefore it would not be wrong to say that the
building block of a strong teacher student relationship is
effective communication. The level of respect that exists
between the two also has a vital role to play in developing
a positive teacher student relationship. A major hindrance
to the strengthening of their relationship is the different
categories of students in a class. Some of the students are
hard working and come to the class to learn but there are
others who are aggressive in nature and find it difficult to
concentrate on what is going on in the class.
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They continuously distract others and also spoil the
learning environment of the class. In order to overcome
this hindrance the teachers need to be extremely patient.
They should maintain a balance between leniency and
strictness as excess of any of the two could cause a total
chaos. It is the teacher’s responsibility to monitor every
student individually so that their progress could be
monitored and attention can be divided between students
accordingly.
A teacher-student relationship evolves with time. When in
primary school the teacher usually acts as a mother for
students and guides them about every little thing. In
secondary and post secondary school the approach of
teachers becomes more professional. They are more
concerned about completing the course rather than
teaching students the true value of life. This is where most
teacher student relationships suffer. A teacher transforms
from being a teacher to an instructor who has the sole
responsibility of teaching students what’s there in the
course books and nothing beyond that. For strong student
teacher relationships it is essential that teachers
understand that students in a class come from different
cultural and social backgrounds.
This increases the need for teachers to modify their
behavior according to each students needs. In this way the
teacher would be able to develop a level of understanding
with every student and the students would feel they are
important which would boost their self esteem. This would
also reflect in their grades and overall behavior. The overall
size of the class is also vital in determining how effective a
student teacher relationship could be. The larger the class
size the more difficult it would be for teachers to provide
individual attention to students so school administrations
should make sure that the class size is kept small which
would allow a much better learning environment for
teacher student relationship to flourish.
With the growing competition in society it is essential that
people improve their relationships with each other.
Amongst these relationships, a student teacher relationship
is of utmost importance which needs to be looked after
properly so that young children could grow up to become
educated and responsible citizens of the society.
