Role of Student Teacher Relationship in Educational Adjustment and Self-Esteem of Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Grade Students

Finding a dearth of research on teacher-student relationship in the Indian context, 75 girls and 75 boys (N=150) of classes 5th, 6th and 7th from five private schools of Haridwar district were administered the Educational Inventory and the Self Esteem Inventory. Five subject teachers of each of these students were asked to fill the Student Teacher Relationship Scale. The average of five scores was taken as the Student Teacher relationship score and that of its components-Conflict, Closeness and Dependency. Results indicate that there is a low but significant relationship between Educational Adjustment and Student Teacher Relationship as a whole for the total sample (N=150) but not for boys and girls taken separately. Conflict appears to be negatively correlated with Self Esteem for the total sample and boys taken separately (N=75) and with Educational adjustment for total sample only. The other correlations were not significant. These are preliminary results from a larger study and are discussed in light of current theories and earlier studies.