What we can learn from Teacher-Student Relationship Research for Luxembourg: A Systematic Review of Meta-Analyses and Second-Order Meta-Analysis

Background: Teacher-student relationships (TSR) play a vital role in establishing a positive school climate and promoting positive student outcomes (Wang et al., 2020). Especially in a diverse context such as Luxembourg, it is vital to identify key student outcomes of TSR to best promote students’ success and well-being. Several meta-analyses suggested significant associations between TSR and, for example, academic achievement, disruptive behavior, school engagement, peer relationships, motivation, executive functioning, and general well-being (e.g. Endedijk et al., 2021; Nurmi, 2012; Roorda et al., 2011; Vandenbroucke et al., 2018). However, these meta-analyses differ substantially in their TSR-outcome relation, moderators, and quality, thus complicating the application of their findings in general, and to the Luxembourgish context in specific.

Key Questions: In this preregistered systematic review of meta-analyses and second-order meta-analysis (Emslander et al., 2022), we aimed to (a) synthesize the meta-analytic evidence on the relations between TSR and student outcomes; and (b) map influential moderators of these relations to adapt their implications to the educational setting in Luxembourg.

Findings and Implications: We synthesized over 70 years of educational research on TSR with 24 meta-analyses on more than 2 million (pre-)school students from around the world. We conducted several second-order meta-analyses and found the strongest significant relations between TSR and academic achievement, academic emotions, appropriate student behavior, behavior problems, and student motivation. Teacher and student ethnicity as well as student age and gender showed to have moderating effects in prior research. To be mindful of ethnicity and age in building supportive TSR is crucial for culturally diverse educational settings. Our study maps the field of TSR research, presents their relations, and moderators, and points to possible ways in which TSR could contribute to improving outcomes in students via relationship building. Future research may use these findings to develop TSR interventions specifically for Luxembourgish schools.

Reference list

Emslander, V., Holzberger, D., Ofstad, S., Fischbach, A., & Scherer, R. (2023). Teacher-Student Relationships and Student Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Meta-Analyses and Second-Order Meta-Analysis [Preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/qxntb
Emslander, V., Holzberger, D., Fischbach, A., & Scherer, R. (2022). The Associations Between Teacher-Student-Relationships and Student Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Meta-Analyses (ReMA-TSR). https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/J2EMF
Endedijk, H. M., Breeman, L. D., van Lissa, C. J., Hendrickx, M. M. H. G., den Boer, L., & Mainhard, T. (2021). The Teacher’s Invisible Hand: A Meta-Analysis of the Relevance of Teacher–Student Relationship Quality for Peer Relationships and the Contribution of Student Behavior. Review of Educational Research, 92(3). https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543211051428
Nurmi, J.-E. (2012). Students’ characteristics and teacher–child relationships in instruction: A meta-analysis. Educational Research Review, 7(3), 177–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2012.03.001
Roorda, D. L., Koomen, H. M. Y., Spilt, J. L., & Oort, F. J. (2011). The Influence of Affective Teacher–Student Relationships on Students’ School Engagement and Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Approach. Review of Educational Research, 81(4), 493–529. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654311421793
Vandenbroucke, L., Spilt, J., Verschueren, K., Piccinin, C., & Baeyens, D. (2018). The Classroom as a Developmental Context for Cognitive Development: A Meta-Analysis on the Importance of Teacher–Student Interactions for Children’s Executive Functions. Review of Educational Research, 88(1), 125–164. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654317743200
Wang, M.-T., L. Degol, J., Amemiya, J., Parr, A., & Guo, J. (2020). Classroom climate and children’s academic and psychological wellbeing: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Developmental Review, 57, 100912. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2020.100912