An Adult Attachment Perspective on The Student–Teacher Relationship and Classroom Management Difficulties

Source: Teaching and Teacher Education, Volume 25, Issue 5, pages 626-635 (July 2009).

To maintain a professional identity, teachers are to some degree dependent on their student's mental representations of, and interactions with, them. This affords students’ relational power over teachers possibly invoking a unique form of attachment dependence and responding in some teachers. Data reported in this article were drawn from a larger research project which asked 11 questions about the nature of the teacher–student relationship. The attachment styles of 291 pre-service and experienced elementary and secondary school teachers were examined using the Experience in Close Relationships Questionnaire (ECR). Significant differences were found for teacher type (elementary versus secondary), experience, age and gender. Implications for classroom relationships, management and teacher education are discussed.