Factors influencing students' perceptions of their teachers' interpersonal behaviour: A multilevel analysis

Abstract

This study investigates which student, teacher and class characteristics are associated with students' perceptions of their science teachers' interpersonal behaviour. Using the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI), two important dimensions of teacher interpersonal behaviour were investigated: influence (dominance vs. submission) and proximity (cooperation vs. opposition). Earlier work with the QTI in the USA and The Netherlands has shown that, in those countries, several factors affect students’ perceptions of their teachers. These factors include student and teacher gender, student and teacher ethnic background, student age, teacher experience, class size, student achievement and subject. It has been found that each of these variables has a distinctive effect, but also that they interact with each other when determining students' perceptions. For the present study, an analysis was performed on a large Australian QTI data set of secondary science teachers and their students. QTI dimension scores were examined against factors such as: gender, class size and subject. To investigate separate and combined effects of variables, a hierarchical analysis of variance (distinguishing between the school, class and student level) was conducted. This paper reports for the first time on the effect sizes and variance explained by these variables with respect to the Australian context.