Perceived Confucian Ren-Based Teaching: scale development, construct validation, and associations with learning motivation and school belonging

Introduction Teacher care is closely linked to students' motivation and sense of belonging, yet commonly used teacher-care measures have been developed largely within Western educational psychology and the ethics of care. Confucian ren offers a culturally grounded account of humane teaching but has rarely been operationalized as a student-perceived classroom construct. Methods Across two independent convenience samples of post-secondary students recruited from three institutions in Hubei Province, China, we developed and validated the Perceived Confucian Ren-Based Teaching (PRBT) scale and examined its associations with learning motivation and school belonging. Study 1 ( N = 326) used expert review, cognitive interviews, parallel analysis, and exploratory factor analysis. Study 2 ( N = 512) used confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to examine measurement quality, associations with an abbreviated care-oriented teaching benchmark, and theoretically ordered indirect associations through teacher-student relationship quality and basic psychological need satisfaction. Results Study 1 supported a 24-item, six-factor structure comprising benevolent concern, inclusive teaching, patient guidance, responsive instruction, norm-guided care, and moral modeling. In Study 2, a correlated six-factor model fit well and retained the clearest dimension-level interpretation, while a second-order model also supported qualified use of a total composite. PRBT was strongly associated with, but empirically distinct from, the pre-specified five-item abbreviated care-oriented teaching benchmark. The theoretically ordered serial model had the lowest AIC and BIC, although a parallel specification showed marginally better comparative fit index (CFI) and standardized root mean square residual (SRMR). PRBT also explained additional variance in learning motivation and school belonging after demographic covariates and the abbreviated care-oriented teaching benchmark were controlled. Discussion The findings provide initial support for PRBT as a culturally grounded, multidimensional operationalization of humane teaching and for cross-sectional indirect associations consistent with the proposed relational-motivational ordering. Because all focal variables were measured by student self-report on one occasion, these associations should not be interpreted as a causal mediation sequence. Replication with full-length comparison measures, multi-wave and multi-source designs, and samples from other regions and educational contexts are needed.