Fostering Students' Active Participation in Higher Education: The Role of Teacher-student Rapport

The concept of teacher-student rapport is a relatively new concept that pertains to one of the factors in the classroom setting that promotes learning. It enhances the classroom atmosphere and promotes the well-being of students. The objective of our study was to examine the predictive value of teacher-student rapport in higher education on students’ active participation in class. The study included a total of 1,682 students who were enrolled in classes taught by 50 instructors across three Slovene public universities. Self-reported measurements to assess teacher-student rapport (Instructor-Student Rapport Scale; Bardorfer & Kavčič, 2020), teachers' effectiveness (Student Evaluation of Educational Quality Scale; Marsh, 1982), autonomously regulated behaviour of students (The Self-Regulation Questionnaire-Academic; Ryan & Connell, 1989) measured by the index of relative autonomy (RAI), and participation levels (Participation Scale; Fassinger, 1995b) were used in the study. The findings from the hierarchical linear modelling analysis revealed that teacher-student rapport significantly predicted students’ active participation in class. Establishing rapport between teachers and students therefore presents an effective way of promoting active student participation. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the study on strategies that teachers might employ to foster rapport with students. Keywords: teacher-student rapport; interpersonal relationships; higher education; active participation; constructivism