Interrelation between close teacher-student relationships and engagement : the case of Finnish preschools

Abstract

The study examined the interrelation between positive teacher-student relationships and teacher-reported level of engagement in Finnish preschool settings. Fifty preschool teachers working in Jyväskylä city area answered questionnaires in which they de-scribed 50 randomly selected students from their class (28 girls and 22 boys), one stu-dent for each teacher. Questionnaires consisted of two parts and measured the quality of teacher-child relationships and the level of children’s emotional and behavioural en-gagement. The results showed that quality of teacher-child relationships in the context of Finnish preschools is closely interrelated with the level of children’s engagement into the learning process. In other words, relationships high in closeness are characterized by significantly higher level’s of student engagement and vise versa. Gender of students, however, hasn’t been proven to have a significant influence on either relationships with teachers or engagement level.