Building positive teacher-pupil relationships: a role for whole class approaches in secondary schools?

Teacher-pupil relationships (TPRs) have been associated with a range of pupil outcomes including academic attainment and adjustment to school.

Despite accumulation of evidence, TPRs are no longer as prominent within UK governmental guidance to schools as they were following the publication of "Every Child Matters" initiative (DfES, 2003).

This thesis aims to inform both theorists and practitioners about improving TPRs, particularly at a whole-class level within secondary schools.

A systematic literature review considered interventions involving TPRs, although not all studies reported TPRs as a direct outcome.

The review suggested that targetted interventions involving 1:1 interactions can improve TPRs and related outcomes for children from pre-school to late adolescence.

However, no papers reported on whole-class strategies. In light of these findings, an action research study was carried out in two secondary schools.

The aim of the project was to discover whole-class practices that could improve TPRs, and the contextual factors that made these practices appropriate.

Teachers and pupils seemed to agree that certain practices could improve TPRs, and that teacher discretion was required in order to judge when and how to use them.

This thesis suggests that TPRs in secondary schools can be enhanced not only by resource-intensive, targetted approaches but also through adjustments to whole-class teaching practices.

Some of the most popular strategies involved little or no planning or specific lesson time, but did require a conscious prioritisation of TPRs.

Such findings offer a wide-reaching, sustainable and ecologically sensitive suggestion for an age group where TPRs are particularly at risk.