Enhancing Relationships Between Children and Teachers

Teaching children involves more than knowing your subject and being able to maintain control of a class. Every child that comes into the classroom is unique. All have different home environments, ethnic backgrounds, abilities, and learning styles. And every child develops a different relationship with the teacher. Enhancing Relationships Between Children and Teachers focuses on the complexity of the child-teacher relationship and how school psychologists and counselors can help teachers to understand the myriad factors involved in their classroom relationships. Pianta uses systems theory to discuss the multiple factors in child-teacher relationships and integrates school, clinical, and developmental psychology. The book is organized according to the ever-expanding circle of systems discussed: from the individual child's personality as a "system" to the individual child-teacher relationship, multiple relationships in the classroom, and finally school policy's influence on the child-teacher relationship. Clear, informative text and rich case examples show how to apply this approach for improving child-teacher relationships in any classroom situation and make this an invaluable read for all helping professionals working with children. Aims to provide school psychologists, child psychologists, and other mental health professionals working with children with the theoretical and technical basis for designing interventions that enhance relationships between children and teachers. The author draws on research in social development and relationship-systems theory to describe the role of child-adult relationships in the development of social and academic competencies and the potential of child-teacher relationships to promote healthy development. It is explicitly focused on the use of child-teacher relationships as a preventive intervention and the role of the psychologist as a consultant to the classroom teacher, the school, and the school district. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved) Teaching children involves more than knowing your subject and being able to control a class. This book focuses on the complexity of the child-teacher relationship and how school psychologists and counsellors can help teachers understand the myriad factors involved in classroom relationships.