New tool helps define student-teacher relationships

There is a strong link between the emotional quality of a student-teacher relationship and the student's satisfaction with the class. Alain Herzog 2021 EPFL - In universities, relationships between students and teachers play a key role in creating a conducive learning experience. But how can we evaluate these relationships in an objective manner? A questionnaire developed at EPFL aims to solve that problem, and shows the importance of three emotional dimensions: warmth, trust and admiration. Good student-teacher relationships in higher education create a positive learning environment. This has been scientifically proven, and many people have experienced this first-hand, such as when they see a disagreeable professor make students want to drop a class. But what underpins these educational relationships, and what causes a teacher to be liked? Can these factors be measured in an objective manner? "Although many studies have shown how student-teacher relationships affect learning during higher education, analyses of this relationship are often limited to a single dimension such as warmth or the teacher's behavior, or to verbal and non-verbal signs of empathy and enthusiasm," says Roland Tormey, a senior scientist and researcher at EPFL's College of Humanities. "This is problematic because such interpretations can vary depending on the social and cultural context." The importance of emotions In response, Tormey, who also heads up EPFL's Teaching Support Center, developed the Classroom Affective Relationships Inventory (CARI) - a new tool for assessing the emotional aspect of student-teacher relationships.