Ethnicity Teacher Student Relationship

Several themes  emerge in relation to the study of teacher-child relationships among ethnic minority children. first, it is worth noting that virtually all peer-reviewed studies on teacher-child relationships included students who are ethnic minorities in their samples, and many included only ethnic minority students. Such studies have found that high quality teacher-student relationships are important for all children (e.g Murray & Malmgren, 2005). Second, students are more likely to experience positive relationships with teachers who share their ethnicity (Saft & Pianta, 2001).  Although this findings is evident in the research literature , the magnitude of of its effect is very small, suggesting that other factors beside ethnicity are more important in predicting the quality of teacher-child relationships. Third, there is a "folk wisdom"that some children, particularly African, American children, will not respond well to the outwardly warm, nurturing and supportive behaviors typical in classrooms led by white teachers. This idea is often espoused in books and articles, however there is no data to support this assertion.