Here’s a short video produced by the good folk at Edutopia that explores the powerful benefits of developing and nurturing strong & healthy relationships at school.

The research is showing us that building connections among students and students with teachers is critical to the learning process of young people. Indeed, some research is suggesting that social connectedness at school is one of the most powerful determinants of success and indicators of well-being for young people. Even more so than parental attachment.

Connecting Before Content

If you’re a regular visitor to this blog, you will be familiar with our passion for helping people to connect before content. No matter what your content is, the stronger your relationships at school, the more you can amplify whatever you’re trying to get done. This applies to teachers as much as to students.

Healthy connections build safe and positive learning environments, which of course increases participation, which fosters interaction, which leads to greater sharing which (happily) offers lots of opportunities for students and teachers to develop trust – the most essential ingredient for building relationships, full stop.

Oh, and the evidence points to the fact that trusting and healthy relationships are strongly correlated to improved academic performance, too.

This is not just a feel-good video.

Create an Optimal Learning Environment

You will hear from experts and professionals and researchers from the field of education who share the science and the evidence of how building positive relationships at your school will help you create the optimal learning environment for your students. There are a couple of quick practical tips too which you can use immediately in your setting too.

Click here to view the video now, or click the play button below.

Contributor Mark