Strengthening Individual Teacher-Child Relationships: An Intervention Study Among Student Teachers in Special Education

Abstract

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.

Three Decades of Research on Individual Teacher-Child Relationships: A Chronological Review of Prominent Attachment-Based Themes

“…Experimental research provides indications that LLInC enhances teacher sensitivity, selfefficacy beliefs for emotional support, and relationship quality as evidenced by more closeness and less conflict in relationships with children with relational or behavioral problems (Spilt et al, 2012b;Bosman et al, 2021). There is also some evidence that LLInC supports relationships of pre-service teachers with difficult children during internships (Koenen et al, 2021).…”

Fostering teacher–student relationship-building competence: a three-year learning trajectory for initial pre-primary and primary teacher education

“…As teachers often report challenges in establishing high-quality dyadic teacher-student relationships (Jensen et al, 2015;Aspelin et al, 2020;Borremans et al, under review), it is important to note that several intervention studies have demonstrated the potential for enhancing relationship quality (for reviews, see Kincade et al, 2020;Poling et al, 2022). The most noteworthy interventions targeting dyadic teacher-student relationships are Banking Time (and adapted versions;Driscoll and Pianta, 2010;Vancraeyveldt et al, 2015), the Establish-Maintain-Restore (EMR-method Cook et al, 2018;Duong et al, 2019), and LLInC (Leerkracht Leerling Interactie Coaching in Dutch or Teacher Student Interaction Coaching; Spilt et al, 2012;Bosman et al, 2021;Koenen et al, 2021). A common elements analysis revealed several practices, both direct and indirect, that contribute to the effectiveness of these interventions (Kincade et al, 2020).…”

Development of the Competence Measure of Individual Teacher-Student Relationships (COMMIT): Insight Into the Attitudes, Knowledge, and Self-Efficacy of Pre-service Teachers

“…As pre-service teachers were found to often rely on maladaptive coping strategies (Gustems-Carnicer et al, 2019) and our results showed that almost half of pre-service teachers do not feel competent in coping with conflicts with students, we argue that teacher education curricula should focus more on teacher well-being in teacher-student relationships and address selfawareness, adaptive coping skills, and self-care. A tool that could be used to this end is the intervention LLInC (Leerkracht Leerling Interactie Coaching in Dutch, or Teacher Student Interaction Coaching; Spilt, 2010-2017), which has recently been applied and evaluated in teacher education (Koenen et al, 2021). LLInC was delivered to pre-service teachers during their final internship in a specialization year of the education program.…”