Phenomenological Analysis of Students’ Perception of Teacher’s Effective Features and Actions in Teacher-Student Relationship

This study aims to analyze students’ perceptions of the characteristics and actions of elementary school teachers that affects student teacher relationship. A qualitative phenomenological approach was used to achieve deep description of these characteristics. Semi-structured interviews, in oral and written format, were conducted with 99 primary school students studying in second to sixth grade (66 girls and 33 boys) who were selected from elementary schools in Shiraz. According to the findings of this study, autonomy support against control, competence, mastery goal support, care, engagement, mutual trust, and support for the class structure are the main themes of the teacher characteristics and functions that affect student teacher relationship. Implication of the findings in interventional plans for teacher-student interaction improvement is discussed in the end.