Are boys better off with male and girls with female teachers? A multilevel investigation of measurement invariance and gender match in teacher–student relationship quality

Abstract

Although research consistently points to poorer teacher-student relationships for boys than girls, there are no studies that take into account the effects of teacher gender and control for possible measurement non-invariance across student and teacher gender. This study addressed both issues. The sample included 649 primary school teachers (182 men) and 1493 students (685 boys). Teachers completed a slightly adapted version of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale. The results indicated limited measurement non-invariance in teacher reports. Female teachers reported better (i.e., more close, less conflictual, and less dependent) relationships with students than male teachers. In addition, both male and female teachers reported more conflictual relationships with boys than with girls, and female teachers also reported less close relationships with boys than with girls. The findings challenge society's presumption that male teachers have better relationships with boys than women teachers.

Teacher-student Relationship and SNS-mediated Communication: Perceptions of both role-players

“…As Barker (2009) found, male adolescents are more likely to use SNS-based communication for social compensation and social identity. Our findings might mirror Barker's notion of social compensation to the context of student-teacher relationship, as it is known that male students have more conflictual relationships with teachers than female students do, and that female teachers have closer relationships with female students than with male students (e.g., Quaglia, Gastaldi, Prino, Pasta, & Longobardi, 2013;Split, Koomen, & Jak, 2012). Therefore, male students might find themselves inferior to their female peers regarding the relationships with their teachers (who are mostly female), hence the possible need for online compensation.…”

The Pupil-Teacher Relationship and Gender Differences in Primary School

“…For male teachers, these aspects are linked (inversely) only to the degree of conflict in the relationship, while for female teachers, they are linked to a significant degree with all the components of the relationship. It would therefore seem that women have more power to discriminate amongst a child's characteristics than men do, an aspect that may be connected to the different relational and "nurturing" skills specific to the two genders [45]. On this point, it is of interest to see that the teacher's characteristics (such as age and years of teaching experience) are related to the perception of the relationship only by male teachers.…”

Relationship between Turkish Elementary Science Teachers’ Occupational Well-Being and Some Contextual and Demographic Characteristics: A Multivariate Analysis

“…Bu çalışmada ise bayan fen öğretmenlerinin erkeklere göre daha yüksek kişisel başarı hissi ve iş tatmini yaşadığı bulunmuştur. Bayan öğretmenlerin, erkek öğretmenlere göre öğrencileriyle daha iyi ilişkiler kurabilmesi (Spilt, Koomen ve Jak, 2012) bu durumun sebepleri arasında gösterilebilir. Çünkü öğrencileriyle olumlu ilişkiler kurabilen öğretmenler, mesleklerinde daha çok motive olurlar, çalıştığı yeri severler ve daha yüksek kişisel başarı hissederler (Grayson ve Alvarez, 2008).…”