Building relationships in higher education to support students' motivation

Student-teacher relationships in higher education take place in two
embedded social contexts: the in-class environment and the
educational institute in which the in-class environment is
situated. The interplay between the two contexts and their
association with students’ motivation was studied in the current
study. In a broad sample (N=597), perceptions of student-staff
relationship quality, need-supportive teaching in class, and
autonomous and controlled motivation were measured.
Perceptions of in-class teacher involvement were associated with
autonomous motivation, while perceptions of in-class teacher
structure were associated with controlled motivation. The
association of perceptions of in-class teacher involvement and
autonomy support with autonomous motivation seemed to be
suppressed by perceptions of trust in benevolence. This indicates
that students can get a ‘just tell me what to do’- attitude when
trust in benevolence makes them shift from being supported to
depending on support. Studying both embedded contexts in one
analysis, resulted in a more fine-grained insight.