Research by the University of Cambridge suggests children who have a positive relationship with a primary school teacher go on to be much calmer as teenagers.

The results found that students with a more positive relationship with their teacher displayed towards peers, on average, 18% more pro-social behaviour (and 10% more up to two years later), and up to 38% less aggressive behaviour (and 9% less up to four years later), over students who felt ambivalent or negative toward their teacher.

Positivity towards their teacher also resulted in students displaying an average of 56% less “oppositional defiant” behaviour such as argumentativeness and vindictiveness towards authority figures. 3 years later a 22% reduction was still seen. The positive effects on behaviour was as strong and in some cases stronger than that of “intervention programmes” such as counselling.  

Teaching is a tough job; there’s the ongoing primary teacher is one of the most rewarding roles. We already know the importance of good teacher relationships on infant behaviour was already known, and programmes have been designed to help pre-school teachers improve relationships with pupils, which in turn improves pupil behaviour.

“Teachers play an important role in the development of children,” said the study’s lead author Dr Ingrid Obsuth. “Students who feel supported tend to be less aggressive and more pro-social, and we now have evidence that this is the case from pre-school right through to adolescence.”
“Educational and school policies should take this into consideration when supporting teachers in fostering their relationships with students.” Cambridge's Prof Manuel Eisner, senior author on the study, said: "Most adults remember some teachers that they admired and that fit their learning needs, and others that they felt hard done by.”

"This is not necessarily only because they have more or less supportive teachers.”
"Each child will respond differently to a teacher's style and personality.”
"Our study shows that once a child develops an impression of a teacher, one way or the other, it can have significant long-term effects on their behaviour." Dr Obsuth added: "Ideally, building healthy and supportive teacher-student relationships would become part of the curriculum in teacher training and intervention programmes as a way of improving adolescent well-being."