Teacher relational schemas of teacher student relationships: a comparison between different career phases

In all phases of the teaching profession positive relationships with students are central to teachers’ self-efficacy and ability to teach well. Our study aims to uncover differences in teacher knowledge of teacher student relationships, in particular relational schemas they hold of these relationships. A relational schema is an interconnected web of knowledge consisting of a self schema, a other schema, and a script. The self and other schema represent self and other in a specific type of interaction and can be regarded as associative networks of declarative knowledge. They are linked by both being embedded in a typical pattern of interaction, called a script. Relational schemas become activated when interacting with another person, and they guide attention and subsequent behavior. In order to investigate relational schemas of teachers, we interviewed thirty teachers at different stages of their career and of different interpersonal abilities. Our focus was on relationships they had with students and on thoughts they had concerning students while teaching. Interview excerpts were analyzed according to the components of relational schemas. Preliminary results illustrate the interconnectedness between the three components of the relational schema and show differences between teachers on multiple aspects located in all three components. These differences may improve our understanding of teachers’ choices for certain strategies (while teaching) and, more generally, our understanding of teachers’ roles in the creation of positive teacher student relationships.