Students’ and teachers’ social representations of the student-teacher relationships at disadvantaged secondary schools in Chile

Abstract

There is robust evidence that the student-teacher relationship impacts students' cognitive, affective, and behavioural outcomes and contributes to the development of individual and academic secondary students; however, research carried out at disadvantaged school contexts shows that stereotypes and myths about poverty mediate the student-teacher relationship hindering the development of strong studentteacher relationships. This research explores the students' and teachers' social representations of the student-teacher relationship within the classroom at disadvantaged secondary schools. I conducted exploratory-qualitative research in four disadvantaged secondary schools in Chile, where 46 students and 27 teachers participated. The methods used were interviews and focus groups. The data were coded and interpreted using thematic analysis. The findings show that the studentteacher relationship could be understood: (1) as a social role, (2) as ways of treating, (3) so something related to classroom climate or (4) as an ideal student-teacher relationship. In this article, I argue that using social representations theory allows us to identify and understand more deeply the stereotypes and myths that underlie studentteacher relationships, which reinforce educational inequalities and inequities in disadvantaged school contexts. Implications for initial teacher education, teaching practice and educational public policies are discussed.