Teachers' Perceptions of Their Undergraduate and Graduate Preparation

This study assessed the extent to which teachers’ perceptions of their relationships with young students varied as a function of child and teacher characteristics in a large, demographically diverse sample of 197 preschool and kindergarten teachers and 840 children. Children were evenly divided between boys and girls. Regression analyses were conducted to examine the relation between teachers’ perceptions of their relationships with students and (a) teacher ethnicity, (b) child age, ethnicity, and gender, and (c) the ethnic match between teacher and child.

Child age and ethnicity and teacher-child ethnic match were consistently related to teachers’ perceptions, explaining up to 27% of the variance in perceptions of negative aspects of the teacher-child relationship, specifically teacher-child conflict. When child and teacher had the same ethnicity, teachers rated their relationships with children more positively. The results are discussed in terms of classroom social processes related to children’s adjustment and the measurement of teacher-child relationships.