TURKISH ADAPTATION OF STUDENT-TEACHER RELATIONSHIP SCALE

Dr. Derya Sahin
Ege University

Abstract

In order to have and maintain close student-teacher relationships it is important to consider teacher's own representations about how adult - child relationship should look like. Students who think their relationships perceived positively by their teachers could survive in school environment successfully and show better prformances academically. Additionally positive student - teacher relationships serve as a protective factor for children at high risk specifically in the field of special education. There are really limited instruments which are used to determine how a teacher perceives relationship with a specific student and interprets a specific behavior or image of students about that teacher. When it comes to find a reliable and valid tool in early childhood field in examining student-teacher relationships, the one widely used psychometric instrument which is identified as Student – Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) developed by Pianta (2001). It is recognized as an effective instrument and easy to use evaluating student-teacher relationships. The goal of this study is to make possible widespread use of STRS based on the findings concerning validity and reliability of the scale in Turkey. Factor analysis was conducted in order to assess the construct validity; the resulting factor analyses revealed overlapping factor structure as indicated in original studies. Moreover, the test-retest reliability and internal coherence of the scale was found very similar to the findings reported by researchers. These findings show us that STRS can be used by teachers and other professionals working with young children showing typical development.

Keywords

Teacher-student relationships, Preschool, Interaction

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