School as a Second Home: Investigating Family Bonds in Educational Communities

Abstract

This paper considers the question, “How can teacher-student connections affect a student and what makes that connection similar to a familial one?” The study focuses on student-teacher relationships and how students perceive their impact. This study was conducted on the outskirts of a large North Eastern city. Data was collected through a survey and interviews from 18 students  who attend either a traditional high school or career and technical high school.  The data was analyzed with comparisons to other research studies/papers and similarities were found in how students responded to teacher support and classroom environments. The findings of this paper demonstrate that these connections have a lasting impact on students, but not at the same magnitude as familial relationships. This study demonstrates that students' approach/ activity in these relationships must be studied more thoroughly. This would benefit teachers' connections with students and students' academic presence. 

Keywords: Teacher-student connections, teacher support, classroom environment, familial  relationships, students’ academic presence