Teacher-student relationships, social and emotional skills, and emotional and behavioural difficulties

Abstract

In this study, the role of teacher-student relationships and students’ social and emotional skills as potential predictors of students’ emotional and behavioural difficulties was investigated by tapping into 962 primary school students’ perceptions via questionnaires. While significant correlations were found linking teachers’ interpersonal behaviour and students’ social and emotional skills to emotional and behavioural difficulties, data analysis indicated that students’ social and emotional skills were found to be more of a determinant of their behaviour than teachers’ interpersonal behaviour. Results are interpreted in relation to systems perspective and Social and Emotional Learning theory, and practical implications of the findings are discussed.