Abstract:
This research aimed at examining teachers’ perceptions of
their relationship with pupils and the association of this relationship
with the pupil’s school adjustment. Quantitative data on the teachers’
perceptions of the pupils’ relationship and school adjustment behaviors
were collected from 26 self-contained classes for 446 grade two sampled
pupils using standardized measures. The Ward’s method of cluster
analysis identified the following three distinct pupil- teacher
relationships, (a) positively involved, (b) functional average and (c)
negatively involved. Likewise, the one way analysis of variance
computed for the three relationship behavior scores showed statistically
significant variation among the three clusters that designates the
presence of three distinct pupil’s relationship behaviors. In addition, the
one way analysis of variance for the school adjustment scores among the
three relationship types resulted in a statistically significant variation.
The pupils whom the teachers reported to have positive relationship
show close, warm and interactive relationship behaviors with their
teachers. Moreover, the pupils scored significantly higher in school
adjustment measure than the pupils whom the teachers reported to have
functional average and negative involvement in their relationship
behavior. Furthermore, the Pearson Product Moment Correlation
analysis between pupil’s relationship behavior and school adjustment
scores revealed the presence of a strong positive and statistically
significant association between the teacher-pupil relationship and the
school adjustment measure.
