Improving Students’ Relationships with Teachers to Provide Essential Supports for Learning

Why Teacher-Student Relationships Are Essential Supports for Learning

Research consistently shows that positive teacher-student relationships are among the most powerful predictors of academic success. According to a comprehensive meta-analysis, these relationships influence nearly every aspect of a student’s educational experience, from attendance and engagement to achievement and behavior.

When students feel connected to their teachers, they experience:

• Increased motivation and engagement in learning activities
• Greater academic achievement across subject areas
• Improved classroom behavior and reduced disciplinary issues
• Enhanced social and emotional development
• Stronger sense of school belonging and connectedness
• Higher graduation rates and educational aspirations

These benefits are especially pronounced for students facing additional challenges, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, students with learning differences, and those experiencing stress or trauma. For these students, a positive relationship with a teacher can be transformative, serving as a protective factor that helps mitigate risks and build resilience.

Developing the teacher skills needed to foster these relationships requires intentionality and practice. It’s not simply about being “nice” to students—it’s about creating genuine connections based on trust, respect, and a commitment to each student’s success. The good news is that these skills can be learned and refined throughout your teaching career.

Building Trust as Essential Supports for Learning

Trust forms the bedrock of effective teacher-student relationships. When students trust their teachers, they’re more willing to take risks, ask questions, and engage deeply with learning. Building this trust requires consistency, authenticity, and a genuine commitment to students’ well-being.

Key Teacher Skills for Building Trust

Practical Trust-Building Strategies

• Keep your promises – Even small commitments matter. If you say you’ll do something, follow through.
• Admit mistakes – When you make an error, acknowledge it directly. This models humility and growth mindset.
• Maintain confidentiality – When students share personal information (within appropriate boundaries), respect their privacy.
• Show up for students – Attend their performances, games, or presentations when possible to demonstrate support beyond academics.
• Be consistent with consequences – Apply classroom management strategies fairly and predictably.

“Trust is built with consistency. Students don’t expect teachers to be perfect, but they do expect them to be reliable, honest, and genuinely invested in their success.”

– Dr. Robert Pianta, Dean of the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia

Building trust isn’t a one-time event but an ongoing process that requires patience and persistence. The teacher skills involved in establishing trust create a foundation upon which all other aspects of the teacher-student relationship can develop.

Knowing Your Students: Personalization as Essential Supports for Learning

Effective teachers recognize that meaningful relationships begin with knowing their students as individuals. This knowledge goes beyond names and academic abilities to include understanding students’ interests, backgrounds, strengths, challenges, and aspirations. When students feel truly seen and known, they’re more likely to engage in learning and develop a sense of belonging in the classroom.

Strategies for Getting to Know Your Students

The teacher skills involved in getting to know students require both structured approaches and spontaneous opportunities. Creating systems for gathering information is important, but equally valuable are the informal conversations that happen before class, during transitions, or after school.

Remember that knowing your students is not a one-time event but an ongoing process. Students grow and change throughout the school year, and maintaining current knowledge about their lives and interests demonstrates your continued investment in them as individuals.

Effective Communication: Verbal and Nonverbal Essential Supports for Learning

Communication forms the backbone of strong teacher-student relationships. How we speak to students, listen to their concerns, and even our body language all send powerful messages about how we value them. Developing advanced communication teacher skills allows educators to connect more effectively with students of all ages and backgrounds.

Active Listening

Perhaps the most important communication skill for teachers is active listening. When we truly listen to students, we validate their experiences and demonstrate that their thoughts matter. Active listening involves:

• Giving full attention – Setting aside distractions and focusing completely on the student
• Using appropriate body language – Maintaining eye contact, nodding, and facing the student
• Reflecting and clarifying – Paraphrasing what you’ve heard to ensure understanding
• Avoiding interruptions – Allowing students to complete their thoughts before responding
• Asking thoughtful follow-up questions – Showing genuine interest in what students share

Active listening is a teacher skill that requires practice and intentionality, especially during busy school days when multiple demands compete for your attention. However, the few minutes spent truly listening to a student can make a profound difference in how they perceive their value in your classroom.

Positive Language and Framing

The words we choose and how we frame expectations significantly impact our relationships with students. Consider these approaches:

Positive framing focuses on what students should do rather than what they shouldn’t do. It assumes positive intent and offers guidance rather than criticism. This approach preserves students’ dignity and maintains a supportive classroom atmosphere.

Nonverbal Communication

Research suggests that a significant portion of our communication is nonverbal. For teachers, awareness of nonverbal cues is an essential teacher skill that impacts relationship quality. Key aspects include:

• Facial expressions – Smiling, showing interest, and maintaining a welcoming expression
• Body language – Using open posture, appropriate proximity, and gestures that convey warmth
• Voice tone and pace – Speaking clearly, varying tone for emphasis, and adjusting pace for understanding
• Physical positioning – Getting on students’ level when possible, especially with younger children

Being mindful of these nonverbal elements helps ensure that your actions align with your words, creating consistency that builds trust and strengthens relationships.

Effective communication skills take time to develop, but they’re among the most valuable teacher skills you can cultivate. By focusing on how you listen, speak, and present yourself nonverbally, you create a communication environment that supports strong relationships with all students.

Culturally Responsive Teaching as Essential Supports for Learning

Building strong relationships with students requires recognizing and valuing their cultural identities, experiences, and perspectives. Culturally responsive teaching acknowledges the importance of including students’ cultural references in all aspects of learning, creating more equitable and inclusive classroom environments.

Key Principles of Culturally Responsive Relationship Building

Developing these teacher skills requires ongoing learning and reflection. No teacher can become an expert in all cultures, but showing genuine interest and willingness to learn sends a powerful message to students about how you value their identities.

Practical Strategies for Culturally Responsive Relationship Building

• Learn to pronounce names correctly – Take the time to learn the proper pronunciation of each student’s name, and correct yourself when you make mistakes.
• Incorporate diverse perspectives in curriculum – Ensure that learning materials reflect a variety of cultural viewpoints and include contributions from diverse groups.
• Create opportunities for cultural sharing – Design activities that allow students to share aspects of their cultural backgrounds in meaningful ways.
• Recognize different communication styles – Be aware that cultural norms around eye contact, speaking volume, turn-taking, and other communication patterns vary widely.
• Connect with families – Build relationships with students’ families to better understand their cultural contexts and educational priorities.

Culturally responsive teaching is not an add-on to your practice but an integral part of how you build relationships with all students. By developing these teacher skills, you create a classroom where every student feels valued, represented, and understood—essential conditions for learning and growth.

Restorative Practices: Relationship-Centered Essential Supports for Learning

Traditional approaches to classroom management often focus on rules and consequences, potentially damaging teacher-student relationships when conflicts arise. Restorative practices offer an alternative approach that maintains and strengthens relationships even during challenging situations, creating a more supportive learning environment for all students.

Core Principles of Restorative Practices

• Relationships First – Prioritizing positive connections as the foundation for learning and community
• Mutual Respect – Valuing the dignity and perspective of every community member
• Responsibility – Encouraging accountability for actions and their impact on others
• Repair – Focusing on healing harm rather than punishing wrongdoing
• Reintegration – Supporting the full inclusion of all community members

These principles guide the implementation of restorative practices, which range from proactive community-building to responsive approaches for addressing harm. Developing these teacher skills allows educators to maintain strong relationships even during disciplinary situations.

Implementing Restorative Approaches

Implementing restorative practices requires specific teacher skills, including facilitation, active listening, and the ability to ask questions that promote reflection rather than defensiveness. These skills develop over time with practice and support.

Restorative practices represent a significant shift in how many teachers approach classroom management. Rather than seeing behavior issues as infractions requiring punishment, this approach views them as opportunities to strengthen relationships and build social-emotional skills—truly essential supports for learning.

Daily Practices That Strengthen Essential Supports for Learning

Building strong teacher-student relationships doesn’t require elaborate programs or extensive time commitments. Often, it’s the small, consistent actions integrated into daily routines that have the most significant impact. These practices demonstrate care and create multiple opportunities for positive interactions throughout the school day.

Simple Yet Powerful Relationship-Building Routines

Integrating Connection Throughout Instruction

Beyond dedicated relationship-building activities, skilled teachers weave connection opportunities into regular instruction. These teacher skills make relationship building a natural part of the learning process:

• Using student interests in examples – Incorporating students’ hobbies, cultural references, and experiences into lesson content
• Celebrating progress – Acknowledging growth and effort, not just achievement
• Providing specific feedback – Offering detailed, personalized comments that show you’re paying attention
• Checking in during independent work – Using this time for brief individual conversations
• Being present during transitions – Using passing periods and transitions for informal interactions

These daily practices don’t require extensive preparation or additional time—they simply involve being intentional about how you use the moments already available in your school day. By developing these teacher skills and making them routine, you create a classroom environment rich in positive interactions and relationship-building opportunities.

Building Relationships with Challenging Students: Critical Essential Supports for Learning

Some of the most important relationships to build are often the most difficult. Students who present challenging behaviors frequently need positive teacher relationships the most, yet their actions can make connection challenging. Developing specific teacher skills for reaching these students is essential for creating inclusive learning environments where all students can succeed.

Understanding Challenging Behavior

Before effective relationships can be built, it’s important to shift perspective on challenging behavior. Rather than viewing it as defiance or disrespect, consider these alternative frameworks:

• Behavior as communication – Challenging behaviors often express unmet needs or undeveloped skills
• Stress responses – Many challenging behaviors stem from stress, trauma, or perceived threats
• Skill deficits – Some students lack the social-emotional skills needed for appropriate behavior
• Relationship seeking – Paradoxically, some challenging behaviors are attempts to connect

This shift in perspective allows teachers to respond with empathy rather than taking behaviors personally—a crucial teacher skill when working with challenging students.

Strategies for Building Relationships with Challenging Students

Building relationships with challenging students requires patience, persistence, and resilience—key teacher skills that develop over time. Progress may be slow and setbacks are common, but the impact of these relationships can be transformative for students who may have few other positive connections with adults.

By viewing challenging behavior through a relationship lens rather than a compliance lens, teachers can create essential supports for learning that reach all students, including those who need these connections most.

Measuring the Impact of Essential Supports for Learning

How do we know if our relationship-building efforts are making a difference? While the quality of teacher-student relationships can be difficult to quantify, there are several indicators that can help educators assess their progress and impact. Monitoring these outcomes helps refine teacher skills and approaches to better meet student needs.

Indicators of Strong Teacher-Student Relationships

Tools for Gathering Relationship Data

Several approaches can help teachers gather more formal data about their relationships with students:

• Student surveys – Anonymous questionnaires about classroom climate and teacher-student relationships
• Relationship mapping – Visual tools to identify which students have strong connections with adults
• Exit tickets – Brief end-of-class reflections that include relationship-focused questions
• Peer observation – Colleagues providing feedback on teacher-student interactions
• Video reflection – Recording and analyzing your own teaching to observe relationship dynamics

These assessment approaches help teachers develop the reflective teacher skills needed to continuously improve their relationship-building practice. By gathering data systematically, educators can identify patterns, recognize strengths, and target areas for growth.

Remember that relationship quality isn’t about perfection but about continuous improvement. By monitoring the impact of your relationship-building efforts, you can refine your teacher skills and approaches to better serve all students in your classroom.

Conclusion: Investing in Essential Supports for Learning

Building strong teacher-student relationships isn’t just a nice addition to effective teaching—it’s foundational to student success. These relationships create the conditions where learning can flourish, motivation can develop, and students can take the risks necessary for growth. As we’ve explored throughout this article, the teacher skills involved in relationship building are both art and science, requiring intentionality, practice, and reflection.

Remember these key principles as you continue developing your relationship-building practice:

• Relationships first – Prioritize connection before curriculum, especially at the beginning of the year
• Intentionality matters – The strongest relationships develop through deliberate, consistent actions
• Small moments add up – Brief, positive interactions accumulate to create meaningful connections
• All students need connection – Every child deserves to feel valued, known, and supported
• Growth mindset applies – Relationship-building skills can be developed and improved over time

The investment you make in building relationships with your students yields returns far beyond academic achievement. These connections create a foundation for social-emotional development, foster a sense of belonging, and can even serve as protective factors for students facing challenges outside school. For some students, a positive relationship with a teacher may be the most stable and supportive adult connection in their lives.

As you implement the strategies discussed in this article, remember that relationship building is not a one-size-fits-all process. Different students will respond to different approaches, and what works in one context may need adaptation in another. The teacher skills you develop through this process—observation, flexibility, cultural responsiveness, and reflection—will serve you throughout your teaching career.

By prioritizing relationships as essential supports for learning, you create a classroom where students don’t just learn more—they thrive.