Effect Of Teacher – Student Relationship On Academic Performance Of Biology Student In Senior Secondary School

Statement of problem

The relationships that teachers develop with their students have an important role in a student’s academic growth.  Hallinan (2008) writes “Learning is a process that involves cognitive and social psychological dimensions, and both processes should be considered if academic achievement is to be maximized” (p. 271).   

The unbalanced reliance on test scores to determine success does not provide an accurate accounting of all that goes into creating an effective learning environment.    Rothstein, Jacobsen, & Wilder 

(2008) agreed saying,  “it is surprising that so many education policymakers have been seduced into thinking that simple quantitative measures like test scores can be used to hold schools accountable for achieving complex educational outcomes” (p. 27).   

      Meyer & Turner (2002) discussed their findings illustrating the importance of students’ and teachers’ emotions during instructional interactions.  They determined that “through studying student-teacher interactions, our conceptualization of what constitutes motivation to learn increasingly has involved emotions as essential to learning and teaching” (p.107).  Their results provide support for further study of the inclusion of interpersonal relationships in the instructional setting and to what degree those relationships affect the students’ learning environment. The quality of the relationship between a student and the teacher will result in a greater degree of learning in the classroom according to Downey (2008).        

Mohrman, Tenkasi, & Mohrman, (2003) assert “lasting change does not result from plans, blueprints, and events, rather change occurs through interaction of participants” (p. 321).  Strong teacher-student relationships may be one of the most important environmental factors in changing a child’s educational path (Baker, 2006).  This case study will explore the environmental factors that are deliberately created by the study participant as she interacts with the student on their educational path.  As Cazden (2001) asserts, the establishment of social relationships can seriously impact effective teaching and accurate evaluation in a classroom.  

A final problem with the research is that studies examining pupil-teacher relationships and academic growth in a pre-post fashion have failed to demonstrate that the academic growth is directly related to a single academic year?s teacher. Rather than measure academic growth in a single academic year, researchers have measured academic growth over many years while only measuring the pupil-teacher relationship during a single academic year. For example, a recent longitudinal study by Wu, Hughes, and Kwok (2010) assessed academic growth as it related to pupil-teacher relationships and other significant variables such as peer relatedness, classroom engagement, and behavior. The researchers assessed 706 elementary pupils who were recruited into the study when they were in the first grade (Year 1 of the study).  

Research objectives

1. To determine if Teacher competence as measured by the Class will be positively related to academic performance of each pupil as rated by the teacher. 

2. To examine how Peer acceptance of each child as rated by his/her teacher will be related to academic performance as rated by the teacher. 

3. To determine if poor  Pupil-teacher closeness is  related to academic performance as rated by the teacher. 

Research Hypotheses 

(H1) Teacher competence as measured by the Class will be positively related to academic performance of each pupil as rated by the teacher. 

(H2) Peer acceptance of each child as rated by his/her teacher will be positively related to academic performance as rated by the teacher. 

(H3) Pupil-teacher closeness as rated by the teacher will be positively related to academic performance as rated by the teacher. 

Significance of the Study 

A good deal of literature provides evidence that strong relationships between students and their teachers are essential to the development of all students in school (Hamre & Pianta, 2006; Birch & Ladd, 1998). Hamre & Pianta report that positive student-teacher relationships are a valuable resource for students. They suggest that having a positive relationship with a teacher allows students to be able to work on their own because they know they can count on their teacher if problems arise – that the teacher will recognize and respond to the problem.  Although research is growing in this area, the contribution of this study is to provide more empirical evidence is on  the aspects of pupil-teacher relationships in order to better effectively integrate this skill into existing teacher programs . 

Scope of the study

The study is determines the Effect of poor teacher - pupil relationship on academic performance of biology student in senior secondary school in Lagos Nigeria.