How Teacher, Student, and Observer Perceptions of Teacher Behavior Influence Learning Engagement

Abstract

Perceptions of teachers, students, and external observers of interpersonal teacher behavior give insight into what occurs in the classroom. Previous research shows that these perceptions of interpersonal teacher behavior do not always match with each other. This study measures and compares relationships between teachers’ self-, student-, and observers’ perceptions of interpersonal teacher behavior. In this study, 80 teachers and 1762 students filled in questionnaires about interpersonal teacher behavior. Observers analyzed 80 videos of those teachers and students in the secondary school classroom context. This research uses the Interpersonal Circle for Teachers (IPC-T, Wubbels et al., 2012) to measure different types of interpersonal teacher behavior. A correlational research design examines which parts of the IPC-T of teachers’ self-perceptions, students’ perceptions, and observers’ perceptions relate to each other. Furthermore, this study examines which parts of the IPC-T predict student learning engagement. This prediction of student learning engagement is also examined between teacher, student, and observers’ perceptions of interpersonal teacher behavior. Results of this study show that student perceptions correlate strong with observer perceptions and weak with teacher perceptions. Teachers and observers do not perceive interpersonal teacher behavior the same way. Furthermore, learning engagement is only predicted by student perceptions of helpful and uncertain interpersonal teacher behavior.