Classroom Processes and Teacher–Student Interaction: Integrations with a Developmental Psychopathology Perspective

Abstract

This chapter reviews theory and empirical evidence linking developmental psychopathology (methods, models, and understandings) with education science, practice, and policy around a particular focus on proximal processes in classrooms related to interactions with teachers. More fully exploiting the intersection of schooling and development remains important for developmental psychopathology precisely because of the role school context dynamics play in shaping the outcome trajectories of children and youth and of the adults who also populate these settings. This intersection is critical for education scientists, practitioners, and policymakers if they hope to fully understand and explain the student outcomes around which most of their efforts are organized. The discussion focuses on the experiences of children and youth in classroom settings and the opportunities they create for development of human capital. Proximal process experiences in schools play a meaningful role in organizing development—aspects of identity, competence, relationships, risk and opportunity all emerge and consolidate in part through experiences in schools. The chapter reviews evidence on the nature, quality, and impact of teacher‐student interactions as they pertain to development and includes new evidence from the study of teacher‐child interaction that reflects developmental psychopathology frameworks for understanding biological mechanisms that intersect with context and experience.

Enhancing Secondary School Instruction and Student Achievement: Replication and Extension of the My Teaching Partner-Secondary Intervention

“…The present findings suggest that, unlike content-specific programs, the MTP-S approach tailored to adolescents’ overarching social and developmental needs has the potential to improve teaching across a broad range of content areas. These findings suggest the developmentally salient value of teacher–student interactions for fostering student learning and development—a result now spanning pre-K to high school—and show that the value of classroom experience for learning and development does not appear entirely due to teachers’ command of content but perhaps also to command of the teacher–student relationship (Pianta, in press). …”

Drivers of human development: How relationships and context shape learning and development1

“…Schools are dynamic, multilevel, multilayered contexts for human development where teachers, peers, classrooms, public spaces and structures, culture, composition, policies, and student attributes influence each other (Crosnoe & Benner, 2015;Pianta, 2016). These co-influential interactions produce differential effects that can be studied and understood at both an individual and subgroup level over time (e.g., Beltz, Wright, Sprague, & Molenaar, 2016;Kremer, Flower, Huang, & Vaughn, 2016).…”

“…Teachers matter for student motivation, engagement, learning, behavior, and psychological support (Pianta, 2016). Student-teacher relationships are important, particularly for students who are at elevated levels of risk (Hamre & Pianta, 2005).…”

“…Teacher well-being and working conditions are important (Pianta, 2016). Many educators are challenged by excessive cognitive demands, lack of cultural and linguistic competence and humility, or an inability to attune to the development needs of children or to respond to the impacts of trauma on children and adults (Baird & Kracen, 2006).…”

Enhancing the “Broaden and Build” Cycle of Attachment Security in Adulthood: From the Laboratory to Relational Contexts and Societal Systems

“…Security can be also enhanced in teacher-student relationships, with positive implications for academic performance and socio-emotional adjustment to school [72,73]. Theoretically, teachers, mainly at the kindergarten and elementary school levels, function as context-specific attachment figures who can provide comfort and support within the school setting.…”