ICIRE 2012

Interpersonal relationships in education include a wide variety of  the relationships between actors such as peer relationships in class, teacher and students, school leaders and teachers,  teachers and parents. The quality of these relationships is essential for healthy developments of teachers and students alike. We know for example that teacher learning thrives when principals facilitate accommodating and safe school cultures.

Clearly, a positive teacher-student relationship strongly contributes to student learning. Educators, parents and students understand that problematic relationships can be detrimental to student outcomes and development. Productive learning environments are characterized by supportive and warm interactions throughout the class: teacher-student and student-student.
Whereas positive teacher-student relationships are important for every child, these are the more a condition for development of students living and studying in contexts in which there is poverty, inequality and unequal access to learning opportunities. Promoting social justice depends among others on the quality of teacher-student relationships.

A variety of research perspectives help explain how these constructive learning environment relationships can be developed and sustained. Contributions have come from educational and social psychology, teacher and school effectiveness research, and communication and language studies, among other fields.

The ICIRE brings together researchers, teacher educators and others interested in interpersonal relationships in education. The conference will address the interactions between teachers and students, students and students, and/or other educational participants such as parents and administrators.

Scholarly papers will be presented in terms of for example:

Proposals and papers that examine any of these or related topics are invited.

The ICIRE 2012 is sponsored by: