title: Teacher-child relationships as a developmental issue.
abstract: Teacher-child relationships may be a developmental issue in its own right, instead of an aspect of wider developmental issues such as attachment or adaptation to school. This paper discusses research findings on teacher-child relationships to argue that teacher-child relationships are important for carrying forward the experiences represented in the attachment behavioral system, although it is not clear whether teacher-child relationships themselves add to the attachment behavioral system or to the sociability behavioral system. The research demonstrates that attachment theory offers a useful template for understanding the role of teacher-child relationships in development. Listing teacher-child relationships among main developmental issues for today's children puts the spotlight on avenues for improving teacher-child relationships.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Child and Family Studies, VU University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. c.schuengel@vu.nl
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schuengel
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005178:Faculty; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D017145:Models, Educational; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009769:Object Attachment; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011594:Psychometrics; D012944:Social Support; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*