Quality Relationships between Students and Teachers: Voices of Year 10 Students Robin Averill Victor

1
Quality Relationships between Students and
Teachers Voices of Year 10 Students Robin
Averill Victoria University of Wellington

• Students views on how teachers establish and
  maintain positive teacher-student relationships
  in junior mathematics multicultural classrooms.
• Paper for involve 08, Wellington, 3rd July 2008

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Ka pu te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi

• When the old net is finished, the new net goes
  fishing

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• Academic success can directly affect young
  peoples self esteem and life opportunities.
• Understanding how teachers can generate and
  maintain quality relationships with their
  students is essential to help maximise young
  peoples academic engagement and achievement.
• This research may offer insights regarding
  relationships between adults and young people in
  general.

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• Home and school relationships, Pedagogy,
  Teachers' expectations, Schools (climate,
  environment, and leadership), Peer effects,
  Classroom/group dynamics, Transition (from
  intermediate or full primary to secondary),
  Mentors, Whänau support, Socio-economic factors
• while all of these factors could well influence
  the achievement of Maori students, most of them
  were subsumed by the quality of the face-to-face,
  in-class relationships and interactions between
  the teachers and Maori students as major
  influences on Maori students' educational
  achievement (p.192).
• Bishop, R., M. Berryman, Tiakiwai, S.,
  Richardson, C. (2003). Te Kötahitanga The
  Experiences of Year 9 and 10 Mäori Students in
  Mainstream Classrooms. Hamilton Mäori Education
  Research Institute (MERI), School of Education,
  University of Waikato.

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Overview

• Research study
• Importance for learning of quality
  teacher-student relationships
• Knowing each other
• Respecting each other
• Caring for progress
• Caring for cultural identities

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Study

• Year 10 mathematics
• 6 multicultural classes and their teachers at 3
  low socio-economic schools
• Data collection 2006 and 2007
• early Term 1, mid-Term 2, early Term 4 (Term 3)
• Class observations, student and teacher
  interviews, student and teacher questionnaires.

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Is caring for students as people important for
their maths learning?What are students views?
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What does a caring classroom Look like?

• Sound like?

• Feel like?

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• 1. Quality relationships with their teachers are
  very important to many young people in
  multicultural city classrooms.
• 2. Many young people believe relationships with
  their teachers are enhanced by teachers getting
  to know them as individuals, showing respect for
  them, and showing caring for their academic
  progress.
• 3. Young people hold a wide range of views on
  the importance of their mathematics teachers
  knowing and understanding their cultural
  identities, and of reflecting such knowledge in
  their teaching.

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• We already have a good relationship. I like how
  my teacher works in his own way towards our
  class. Hes a good teacher and Ive got no
  problems towards him. Hes got it all in the
  package strict, funny, smart and a very good
  person to learn maths from. He talks about
  educational and social matters which is what we
  all like about him.

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• Establishing relationshipsknowing each other
• ways of treating one another
• 1-1 interactions
• Is maths different?
• Developing and nurturing relationships
• knowing each other
• open to humour
• open to questions (maths and unrelated to maths)
• listening, being warm and open
• 1-1 interactions
• praise and encouragement, smiling
• belief in students as mathematics learners and
  as people
• following up

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• Getting to know students

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What do students want their teachers to know
about them?

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What do students want their teachers to know
about them?

• my family
  
• my sports
  
• how good a student I am
• my family commitments
• my personality
• my church commitments
• my successes
• my ethnicity/culture
• my other teachers
  
• my expectations
• how well I learn in other subjects
• my cultural activities at school
• other

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What do students want their teachers to know
about them? T1 (n95)

• my successes 51
• how well I learn in other subjects 41
• my personality 39
  
• my ethnicity/culture 26
• my family
  21
• my sports
  17
• my cultural activities at school 13
  
• my other teachers
  12
• my family commitments 5
  
• other (how good a student I am, my
  expectations, my church commitments)
  

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What do students think their teacher knows about
them? T1 (n95) T2 (n106)

• my successes 51
  44
• how well I learn in other subjects 41
  36 (deans)
• my personality 39
  55
• my ethnicity/culture 26 40
• my family
  21 33
• my sports
  17 19
• my cultural activities at school 13
  8
• my other teachers
  12 67 (deans)
• my family commitments 5
  6

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What are your teachers main ways of getting on
well with the class?

• Talking to us, like one-on-one, when theyre face
  to face. Its easier for me when he explains
  something when hes standing right next to me,
  talking just to me.
• Putting our names on the board and when she
  counts down
• Talking to us, yep, especially going round all
  the groups
• Letting us talk a bit, not like totally strict
  and stuff
• She like laughs with us sometimes

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• Enjoy your job and enjoy our company.

19

• If they dont care, then I wont

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Is caring for students maths progress important?

• Almost all students in the study responded that
  it is important that their teacher cares about
  their mathematics progress. Their reasons related
  to the effect of such caring on
•         the ability of their teacher to be
  effective
• because the teacher will know my maths level
• because the teacher will have expectations for us
  
•         their own motivation to succeed
• because if they dont care, I wont
• so we are inspired to learn well
•         their success
• because if the teacher wants to teach us and we
  want to learn we do much better, and
•         because of the importance of mathematics
  for them personally
• because I need maths in the future.

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Is caring for students maths progress important?

• A small number of students expressed that they
  didnt feel it was important for their teacher to
  care about their progress
• It doesnt matter so much whether the teacher
  cares about your learning or not cause youve
  got your own goals that youre setting.
• As long as the teacher teaches us and we learn,
  thats fine.

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• How do teachers establish caring learning
  relationships?

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• Establishing caring maths relationshipsencouragem
  ent and praise
• communication
• class control and high expectations
• repeating explanations if needed
• 1-1 interactions (maths), walking around the
  class to see if they are on track
• Developing and nurturing caring maths
  relationships
• feedback (modes and preferences)
• available to help
• varying lesson style
• using games and taking part in them
• knowing students as maths learners
• topic overviews
• belief in students as maths learners
• following up

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How do students like to get feedback about their
maths learning?
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How I like to receive feedback about my maths
learning

• Oral I like the teacher to tell me all about it
  because sometimes I dont understand looking or
  reading on a piece of paper. I like it when the
  teacher says good things about my work and about
  my potential,
• Written through my work being marked, through
  letters to my parents about my maths successes,
  if theres a little message thingy there in my
  book, its pretty good having that there
• Teacher assistance through the teacher helping
  us,
• Privacy I like to get the feedback privately,
  not so the whole class knows,
• Asking Some feel comfortable to ask the teacher
  about their progress.

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How do students show they know their teacher
cares for them and for their maths progress?

• Observational data Student-initiated
  interactions
• Humour
• Greeting/Farewell
• New conversation about class activity (maths/not
  maths)
• Seek approval for their work
• Body language
• Show they want to be involved
• Respond to teacher (maths/not maths)
• Ask questions (maths/not maths)

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• 1. Quality relationships with their teachers are
  very important to many young people in
  multicultural city classrooms.
• 2. Many young people believe relationships with
  their teachers are enhanced by teachers getting
  to know them as individuals, showing respect for
  them, and showing caring for their academic
  progress.
• 3. Young people hold a wide range of views on
  the importance of their mathematics teachers
  knowing and understanding their cultural
  identities, and of reflecting such knowledge in
  their teaching.

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Big Thanks

• NZIMA
• VUW Foundation
• Study teachers, students and schools
• VUW College of Education, VUW library
• Associate Professor Megan Clark, Herewini Easton,
  Fuapepe Rimoni, Azra Moeed, Matt Walkington, Dr
  Richard Arnold,
• Roger Harvey, Sylvia Bishton, Derek Smith, Niwa
  Short
• Andrew Tideswell, Dave Amrein, Pip Arnold
• Larissa Te Ao, Barb Thompson, Lizzie Condliffe,
  Vienna Masoe, Alysha, Sam
• Wellington College, Naenae College, Wainuiomata
  High School, Onehunga College, Auckland Girls
  Grammar School
• Prof Christine Sleeter, Prof John Loughran, Dr
  Adrienne Alton-Lee