The student’s drawing of teacher’s pictorial Value as a predictor of the student–teacher relationship and school adjustment

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Anna Di Norcia¹  Anna Silvia Bombi¹  Giuliana Pinto²  Eleonora Cannoni¹ 

[1] Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome;Department of Psychology, University of Florence

关键词: teacher authority;    student-teacher relationship;    school adjustment;    primary school;    Children drawing;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1006568

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

This study employs PAIR, i.e. Pictorial Assessment of Interpersonal Relationships (Bombi, Pinto and Cannoni, 2007), to investigate the links between the importance attributed by primary students to their teachers and two independent measures of scholastic well-being, provided by teachers and parents. During middle-childhood, the teacher is one of the most significant adults with whom children interact daily; a student-teacher relationship warm and free from excessive dependency and conflict is very important for children wellbeing (Hamre and Pianta, 2001); however children’s recognition of teacher importance as an authority figure has been seldom studied (Lü and Hu, 2021). Children 7 to11 years old were individually asked to draw themselves and one of their teachers in two situations (relational Wellbeing and relational Distress); the Scale of Value from PAIR was used as a proxy of the importance attributed to teachers in each situation. Teachers completed the Student Teacher Relationship Scale (Pianta,1999) for Closeness, Conflict and Dependency of each child; parents answered 2 items about their children’s School Adjustment (Bombi, Gallì and Di Norcia, 2014). All the study variables were firstly analyzed to check for gender and age differences. Boys valorized more than girls the teacher’s figure; however, teachers perceived more Closeness and less Conflict with girls. Dependency and Conflict decreased with age, as well as (albeit slightly) School Adjustment. To assess the links between pictorial valorization of the teacher in Wellbeing and Distress and teachers’ and parents’ evaluations, four separate hierarchical regressions were performed (Closeness, Dependency, Conflict and School Adjustment), controlling children’s sex and age. The teacher’s pictorial valorization in Wellbeing appeared to be related to Closeness and School Adjustment, while a negative relationship emerged between valorization and Dependency in Distress. In sum, the recognition of the teacher’s role as an authority figure does not hinder a warm student-teacher relationship and impacts positively on school adjustment. In situations of Distress dependent pupils showed a diminished appreciation of the teacher’s importance, possibly as a result of a defensive stance.

【 授权许可】

CC BY