Conference Agenda
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Symposium 3.D - Attachment in Educational Contexts: New Approaches to Assessing and Intervening in Teacher–Student Relationships in Secondary Schools
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4:30pm - 5:30pm
Attachment in Educational Contexts: New Approaches to Assessing and Intervening in Teacher–Student Relationships in Secondary Schools At the core of human connections lie relationships between caregivers and children. While research has traditionally focused on parental caregivers, over the past decades the attachment paradigm has also been applied to non-parental caregivers, such as teachers (Pianta et al., 2003). Studies show teachers serve as temporary secure bases (encouraging exploration) and safe havens (providing comfort), thus fulfilling key attachment roles when parents are absent (Verschueren & Koomen, 2012; Spilt et al., 2022). Yet, while substantial progress has been made in understanding teacher–child relationships (TCRs) in pre-primary education, challenges remain in assessing and supporting TCRs—particularly TCRs with older children in secondary education (Roorda et al., 2019). This symposium addresses teachers as key adults responsible for fostering TCRs. The first paper aims to move beyond the simple positive–negative dichotomy to identify relationship typologies (supportive, ambivalent, complicated, distant) based on teacher reports in primary and secondary schools. It highlights teachers’ relational goal setting as a predictor of supportive TCRs. The second paper introduces a new questionnaire assessing students’ perceptions of teachers’ daily relationship‑building practices in secondary schools. These practices are considered a key target for intervention. The third paper presents a feasibility study of an intervention aimed at improving teachers’ relationships with youth at-risk of dropping out due to severe behavior problems and school absenteeism. The intervention seeks to strengthen teachers’ capacity for mentalizing (i.e., looking beyond students’ behavior to consider the thoughts and feelings that underlie it). In summary, the symposium advances our understanding of TCRs by (1) introducing innovative approaches to assessing TCRs and related factors such as teachers’ relationship-building practices and mentalizing capacity, and by (2) placing a strong emphasis on secondary education. In doing so, it contributes to the broader conference goal of exploring the human connections between adults and children in schools that drive child development. Presentations of the Symposium More than positive or negative: Using latent profile analysis to map the quality of teachers' best and worst teacher-student relationships Researchers have consistently highlighted the significance of high‑quality teacher–student relationships for teachers. In both primary (e.g., Spilt et al., 2012) and secondary schools (e.g., Gehlbach et al., 2012), researchers have drawn on the extended attachment perspective to investigate the quality of these relationships. According to this perspective, positive teacher–student relationships foster a sense of security in students and thereby increase their engagement, whereas negative relationships threaten students’ emotional security and thereby inhibit academic participation (Verschueren & Koomen, 2012). Prior person‑centered research suggests that both students and teachers experience relationships as more nuanced than a simple positive-negative dichotomy, instead describing distinct relational patterns such as supportive, ambivalent, complicated, or distant (e.g., Ahnert et al., 2012; Bosman et al., 2022). The present study builds on this work by examining whether relationship typologies of primary and secondary teachers were stable or differed across teachers’ most positive and most negative relationships. In addition, we investigate the extent to which these relationship typologies can be predicted by teacher gender, educational level (primary vs. secondary), and teachers’ relational goals. Latent profile analysis was applied to relationship perceptions of 800 Australian primary and secondary teachers to identify relationship typologies across these two focal relationships, based on levels of relational closeness and conflict. Five relational profiles emerged. Teachers reported relationship typologies ranging from supportive or average to complicated and dysfunctional, indicating a broader array of relationship types than a simple positive/negative distinction. Most teachers described similar types of relationships across students (e.g., uniformly positive, uniformly complicated), which indicates a domain‑specific rather than a relationship‑specific working model of teachers. Female teachers and teachers who set specific relational goals were least likely to report maladaptive relationships. As one of the first studies to examine teachers’ relationship views using a person‑centered approach, these findings warrant replication in future research. Teacher affiliative practices to build teacher-student relationships: A new student questionnaire Current measures of teacher-student relationships (TSRs) often focus relational and attachment-relevant constructs (e.g., closeness) but overlook specific teacher behaviors that foster these relationships. There is limited research on how TSRs are built and maintained, particularly in secondary education. This study introduces and validates the revised Teacher Affiliative Practices – Student perspective questionnaire (the revised TAP-S). The TAP-S is a new tool designed to assess young adolescents' perceptions of teachers' daily relationship-building and -maintaining practices in secondary schools. It captures adolescents’ perceptions of both the affiliative practices of all teachers overall (the revised TAP-S-general) and those of a specific course teacher (the revised TAP-S-specific). A total of 393 students participated (M age = 12.71 years), from the seventh and eighth grade. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) revealed a three-factor structure for the general scale—sensitive care, disregard, and relational openness—A two-factor structure for the specific scale—sensitivity and openness, and disregard. These factors map onto attachment-relevant dimensions of caregiver sensitivity, accessibility, and rejection. For both the general and specific scales all factors demonstrated acceptable to good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .69–.93). Both scales demonstrated good convergent validity, with factors significantly related to student reports of affiliation and dissatisfaction with teachers as measured by well-validated instruments (r = .20–.80, all with p- < .001). The measure further showed strong criterion validity, i.e., students’ perceptions of teacher support or disregard were meaningfully associated with their overall school engagement and well-being (r = .15–.58, all ps < .001). These findings suggest that the revised TAP-S is a valid tool for assessing teachers’ affiliative practices from students’ perspectives and shows promise for informing attachment-informed teacher training. Keeping You(th) In Mind: A pilot feasibility study of a brief mentalizing intervention for teachers working with hard-to-reach students. Schools are increasingly confronted with so-called “hard-to-reach” adolescents, who experience socio-economic disadvantage alongside behavioral and mental health difficulties, resulting in rising levels of school disengagement and exclusion. Although teachers can act as key non-parental attachment figures, many feel ill-equipped to address these complex needs (Aloe et al., 2014). Establishing trusting and positive teacher-student relationships (TSRs), supported by teachers’ capacity to mentalize - the ability of the teacher to look beyond the students’ behavior and take into account the thoughts and feelings underlying their behavior (Luyten et al., 2020) - can buffer these challenges. The Keeping You(th) in Mind (KYiM) intervention is a mentalization-based program designed to support secondary school teachers in maintaining or restoring positive TSRs with those adolescents by strengthening their ability to mentalize. KYiM was co-developed with adolescents and teachers in collaboration with Positive Relationships at School (PROS), an organization with 20+ years of experience supporting youth in the school context. In this pilot feasibility study, the feasibility of KYiM was investigated based on attendance rates, self-reported acceptability (e.g., time investment) and overall satisfaction in 75 teachers across nine schools. The preliminary effectiveness was assessed based on the Teacher Reflective Functioning Scale for Adolescents (TRFQ-A), TSR-quality (TSR-Q; α = .71) and teacher wellbeing assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory - Educators Survey (MBI-ES) from baseline to the end of the intervention and 6-month follow-up using repeated measures ANOVA and multi-level analysis. Interim analyses demonstrated moderate-to-large reductions in teacher mentalizing difficulties (TRFQ-A; d = −0.63), improved relationship quality with hard-to-reach students (TSR-Q; d = 0.57) for baseline to end of intervention with no effects on teacher burnout symptoms (MBI-ES). Final findings are expected in June 2026. In this presentation we will briefly summarize the main findings of this feasibility trial and address its implication for a future RCT. Assessing and promoting teacher-child relationships in secondary education: a discussion D. Roorda will serve as discussant. She has ample expertise in research on teacher-student relationships in secondary education. She is also well-known for several meta-analytic studies on teacher-student relationships. Research in secondary education: selected references
Meta-analytic research:
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