A child's relationship with a teacher is critical to their emotional and academic development. A growing body of research has demonstrated the importance of providing high-quality classrooms and teachers committed to building and supporting relationships for all children, but especially for children at-risk. This qualitative study examined Head Start teachers' beliefs regarding teacher-child relationships in relation to observed teacher behaviors in the classroom.

The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) (Pianta, et al., 2008) was used as a framework to measure relationship quality between participating teachers and children in their classrooms. Themes which emerged around teacher beliefs were compared to observed behaviors in the classroom. Findings indicated participants knew the language of building and maintaining positive relationships with young children, and shared beliefs which would support those relationships. However, in practice participating teachers demonstrated inconsistent behaviors across the CLASS domains of Classroom Organization and Instructional Support to support those beliefs. The findings of this study have implications for early childhood and teacher education programs. This study highlights the need for teachers to continue to build relationships, while at the same time expand their language and teaching strategies to encourage higher-order thinking and problem solving skills.