Relationships with children with special educational needs can be emotionally challenging for teachers and conflicts may negatively impact both children and teachers. Beginning teachers in particular may struggle with negative teacher-child relationships and the emotions these invoke. A first step in coping with relationship difficulties with specific children is increasing the teacher’s awareness and understanding of relational themes and emotions in the relationship with that specific child. Therefore, this multiple case intervention study examined the effects of LLInC (Leerkracht Leerling Interactie Coaching in Dutch, or: Teacher Student Interaction Coaching) in a sample of six student teachers in their final internship. LLInC is a relationship-focused coaching program using narrative interview techniques to facilitate in-depth reflection on teacher-child relationships. The intervention aims to foster teachers’ awareness of (negative) internalized emotions and beliefs in order to improve closeness and positive affect, and to reduce conflict and negative affect in teacher-child relationships. Participants repeatedly reported on their perceptions of the teacher-child relationship and on emotions in relation to a specific child before and after the LLInC intervention, which consisted of two one-on-one sessions with a coach. Visual between- and within-phases analyses revealed differential intervention effects across teachers on the development of teacher-child relationship quality and relationship emotions. For all teachers, except for one, positive effects were found on feelings of joy and perceptions of closeness. Preventive effects (i.e., stopping downward trends) were more often observed for competence-based and relationship-based emotions and perceptions (competence, commitment, closeness) than for basic emotions (joy, anger, worry). Although further research is needed, the results highlight the potential of LLInC in influencing pre-service teachers’ child-specific emotions and relationship perceptions. Directions for future research and implications for teacher education are discussed.

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The importance of dyadic teacher-student relationships for both teachers and students is widely acknowledged. However, only limited research has explored how competent teachers feel in building these relationships. The current study aimed, first, to deepen the knowledge on relational competence by targeting teachers’ competence in building dyadic teacher-student relationships specifically. To this end, the Competence Measure of Individual Teacher-student relationships (COMMIT) was developed. This questionnaire is explicitly based on theories used in research on affective teacher-student relationships and addresses multiple aspects of competence (attitudes, knowledge, and self-efficacy). Second, as teacher education programs have been repeatedly criticized for not sufficiently targeting relational competencies, the current study focused on pre-service teachers’ perceived competence and aimed to explore differences in this competence across pre-service teachers in subsequent years of their teacher training. Criterion validity of the newly developed COMMIT was examined in a sample of pre-service teachers in pre-primary and primary teacher education programs (N = 535). Six subscales were created, addressing pre-service teachers’ attitude toward teacher-student relationships (1 scale), their knowledge of teacher-student relationships and coping (2 scales), and their self-efficacy beliefs with regard to building closeness, coping with conflict, and reflective functioning (3 scales). Results showed that pre-service teachers had a rather positive attitude toward teacher-student relationships, and felt quite knowledgeable and self-efficacious, yet not in all aspects of dyadic relationship-building. Results further revealed that pre-service teachers in the final year of teacher training felt more competent, yet, again, not for all aspects of dyadic relationship-building. Notably, differences between pre-service teachers in subsequent years of teacher education were less pronounced in primary compared to pre- primary teacher education programs. Suggestions for future research and implications for initial teacher training are discussed.