Teacher-student relationships: the roles of teachers’ emotional competence, social emotional learning beliefs, and burnout

Using a questionnaire survey methodology, this study examined associations among elementary school teachers’ perceptions of their emotional competence, positive social emotional learning beliefs, burnout perceptions, and the quality of their relationships with students. Participants were 120 teachers (88 females and 32 males) recruited from 15 Greek schools. Results demonstrated that teachers’ perceptions of their emotional competence and personal achievement were both positively associated with their perceptions of their relationships with their students as close. When teachers reported high levels of emotional exhaustion, commitment to social emotional learning was positively related positively to perceptions of teacher-student closeness. In contrast, when teachers reported high levels of teacher depersonalisation and personal achievement, commitment to social emotional learning was negatively associated with their perceptions of teacher-student closeness. Teachers reported less conflict with students when they reported experiencing high levels of personal achievement. Findings indicate that psychological processes linking various dimensions of teachers’ social-emotional competence to relationship-building between teachers and students in Greek classrooms are similar to those that operate in the U.S. Strategies to support the development of effective training in social emotional competence for teachers and school leaders are discussed.