L’incidence de la relation maître-élève sur la motivation d’élèves du primaire provenant de milieux défavorisés
The objective of this research was to assess the impact of the teacher-student relationship on students’ motivation, particularly within low income families. The study conducted was based on the hypothesis that better teacher-student relationship lead to a higher level of motivation for the student. In order to verify this hypothesis, our objectives were to analyse the predictive value of the teacher-student relationship on school motivational determinants in order to identify which aspects of teacher-student relationship, in an attachment perspective (caring, supportive or conflictive), could better predict each of the motivational variables. Also, we wanted to identify which of these motivational variables are most affected by the quality of the teacher-student relationship. Some of the determinants come from Expectancy-Value models (perceived competence, interest, perceived utility of school in general, and for French and Mathematics). Other determinants come from goal orientation theory (mastery goal, performance goal and work avoidance goal). We also verified the moderator effect of gender in the attachment variables and the motivation.  Our results show that the student-teacher relationship can predict interest in schooling in general, specific interest in French and Mathematics, and the presence of avoidance goal. We also showed that a supporting relationship could be the aspect of teacher-student relationship which mostly predicts the motivational variables. It was also surprising to see the impact of a caring relationship on the three dimensions of interest (general and subject related). Interest in general was also the motivational variable best predicted by the teacher-student relationship. We also showed that the perception of conflict is the aspect of the teacher-student relationship which could best predict some of the motivational determinants. However, our results could not support the moderator effect of gender on the relationship.
School motivation Student-teacher relationship Socioeconomic status Perceived competence Interest Utility value Goal orientation