Researchers Explore the Link Between Teacher Relationships and Student Well-Being
In their article, Student–Teacher Relationship Perceptions and Student Well-Being: Insights from Nine Countries and Two Age Groups, published in the Child Indicators Research journal, the authors analyse data from the OECD Survey on Social and Emotional Skills (SSES). While previous studies have emphasised the importance of these relationships for student well-being, most have focused solely on students' perspectives. The new study takes a broader perspective by comparing how both students and teachers evaluate their relationships and whether these views are associated with students’ well-being across different cultural contexts.
We observe that prior research is limited by a primary focus on student perspectives, a lack of cross-cultural comparisons, and insufficient attention to age-related differences — gaps that the present study addresses. While student-teacher relationships are significant for students’ well-being, it remains unclear whether teacher and student perceptions of these relationships are similarly associated with student well-being.”
The researchers analysed responses from over 46,000 students aged 10–15 and more than 13,000 teachers from ten sites in nine countries: Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, Portugal, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and the United States. A consistent pattern emerged across these diverse educational and cultural contexts: students who perceived their relationships with teachers more positively also reported higher levels of well-being.
However, the study also revealed that students and teachers often had different perceptions of these relationships. In most countries, teachers' assessments showed little overlap with students' own evaluations and were not associated with students' well-being. Conversely, students' perceptions of relationship quality were consistently linked to their overall life satisfaction.
The association between teacher relationships and well-being was stronger among 10-year-olds than among 15-year-olds, suggesting that the role of teachers changes as adolescents increasingly rely on peer relationships. According to the authors, these findings highlight a broader cross-cultural pattern linking supportive student–teacher relationships and student well-being. They also emphasise the need for further research into how students and teachers understand positive relationships, and how these evolve across different stages of schooling.
Further research should not only employ different study designs, but also analyze various school contexts and cultural factors to better understand how student–teacher interactions occur and how they impact student well-being.”