This study highlights the importance of teachers in relation to the emotions students experience in class. First, in line with the work of Kenny, we argue that the specific relationship that evolves between teachers and students drives students' emotional experiences. We decompose variability in student emotions not only into the commonly investigated student and teacher facets but also into facets representing specific pairings of teachers with classes and students (so-called relationship effects). Second, using interpersonal theory, we assess the degree to which the interpersonal quality of teaching accounts for variability in student emotions. Cross-classified multilevel modelling of 8042 student ratings (N ¼ 1668 secondary school students, M age ¼ 14.94) of 91 teachers indicated that a considerable amount of variability that is usually assigned to the student level may be due to relationship effects involving teachers. Furthermore, the way that teachers interpersonally relate to their students is highly predictive of student emotions. In sum, teachers may be even more important for student emotions than previous research has indicated.

According to social referencing theory, cues peers take from positive and negative teacher behavior toward a student affect the student’s peer liking and disliking status. The present study was the first to test the hypothesized mediation model connecting teacher behavior with peer liking and disliking status, via peer perceptions of teacher liking and disliking for the student. We used a longitudinal design and controlled for peer perceptions of student behavior. A sample of 1,420 5th-grade students (Mage = 10.60) from 56 classes completed sociometric questionnaires at 3 time points within 1 school year. At the first time point video data was also recorded, and teacher behavior toward specific students was coded. A multilevel path analysis showed that teachers did function as social referents for peer status but only through their negative behavior toward a student. Negative teacher behavior was associated with peer perceptions of the teacher’s disliking for the student 3 months later, which in turn predicted peers’ disliking of the student 6 months later. Findings suggest that teachers play a prominent role in peer relationships, particularly in peer disliking. For practice, this suggests that it may be important for teachers to refrain from openly negative behavior toward students, particularly those at risk of peer rejection.

No abstract

Preparing students to become self-regulated learners has become an important goal of primary education. Therefore, it is important to investigate how we can improve self-monitoring and self-regulation accuracy in primary school students. Focusing on mathematics problems, we investigated whether and how (1) high- and low-performing students differed in their monitoring accuracy (i.e., extent to which students’ monitoring judgments match their actual performance) and regulation accuracy (i.e., extent to which students’ regulation judgments regarding the need for further instruction/practice match their actual need), (2) self-scoring improved students’ monitoring and regulation accuracy, (3) high- and low-performing students differed in their monitoring and regulation accuracy after self-scoring, and (4) students’ monitoring and regulation judgments are related. On two days, students of 9 − 10 years old from 34 classes solved multiplication and division problems and made monitoring and regulation judgments after each problem type. Next, they self-scored their answers and again made monitoring and regulation judgments. On the multiplication problems, high-performing students made more accurate monitoring and regulation judgments before and after self-scoring than low-performing students. On the division problems, high-performing students made more accurate monitoring judgments before self-scoring than low-performing students, but after self-scoring this difference was no longer present. Self-scoring improved students’ monitoring and regulation accuracy, except for low- and high-performing students’ regulation accuracy on division problems. Students’ monitoring and regulation judgments were related. Our findings suggest that self-scoring may be a suitable tool to foster primary school students’ monitoring accuracy and that this translates to some extent into more accurate regulation decisions.

No abstract