Relationships

The quality of relationships within a school is one of the most consistent predictors of student engagement. 

This collection examines how student-teacher relationships, peer connectedness, sense of belonging and family involvement shape whether students feel safe, valued and motivated to participate.

 It pays particular attention to autonomy support, perspective-taking and behaviour management — not as a disciplinary function, but through its relational impact on the conditions for engagement.

Learning how to become an autonomy-supportive teacher begins with perspective taking: A RCT and model test

This randomised controlled trial tests whether teachers can be trained to become more autonomy-supportive — and whether the key mechanism is their capacity...

School engagement trajectories in adolescence: The role of peer likeability and popularity

Following over 1,000 students from Grades 7 to 11, this Belgian longitudinal study draws an important distinction between being liked and being popular....