Development of teacher interpersonal expertise: research focus and conceptual framework

In studying development of teachers in secondary education we specifically address teacher interpersonal expertise, the ability of teachers to create, foster, and maintain healthy interpersonal relationships in classrooms. Focus in the present project is on teacher-student relationships. The teacher-student relationship is an important factor in explaining the effectiveness of classrooms for student learning (Den Brok, Brekelmans, & Wubbels, 2004; Cornelius-White, 2007; Davis, 2003; Pace & Hemmings, 2007; Pianta, 2006). For teachers, positive relationships with students are central to teachers’ self-efficacy and ability to teach well in all phases of the teaching professional career (Day, Stobart, G., Sammons, P., Kington, A., Qing, G., Smees, R., et al. 2006).