Teacher control and affiliation: do students and teachers agree?

Using an interpersonal circumplex model, we examined whether teachers and students in secondary education apply a similar frame of reference when thinking about how a teacher relates to students. We also examined the alignment of teacher and student perceptions of two dimensions of the teacher-student relationship: Control and Affiliation. Results showed that although teachers and students use a similar framework, they do not agree on the amount of teacher Control and Affiliation in a given classroom. This study contributes to our understanding of teacher self-reports by comparing student and teacher perceptions of the teacher-student relationship.