The success of teaching and learning is founded on the quality of the relationship built between the teacher and the student. The teacher manages the motivational climate of the classroom to foster learning-focused relationships with students, with shared ownership of and responsibility for learning. This provides students with the maximum opportunity to build their own motivation to learn.
"Learning-focused relationships are about using the considerable potential in the relationship between teacher and student to maximise the student’s engagement with learning; about enabling the student to play a meaningful role in deciding what to learn and how to learn it; and about enabling the student to become a confident, resilient, active, self-regulating learner."
Absolum, M. (2006). Clarity in the Classroom.
These resources may be used to help create learning-focused relationships in the classroom.
These posters, one directed at the teacher and the other at students, ask what needs to be done now to best help students learn.
What do I need to do now to best help me learn
(Word 2007 84 KB)
What do I need to do now to best help this student learn
(Word 2007 64 KB)
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These posters have ideas for creating classroom resources about learning.
Super learners
(Word 2007 206 KB)
A bunch of learning attitudes (Mellons Bay Primary)
(Word 2007 51 KB)
Kids at work (Mellons Bay Primary)
(Word 2007 99 KB)
Six key messages about learning (Mellons Bay Primary)
(Word 2007 18 KB)
Great learners – example with clown (Rise Up Academy)
(Word 2007 77 KB)
Learning prompts (Greenhithe Primary)
(Word 2007 216 KB)
Learning kete – poster (Mellons Bay School)
(Word 2007 673 KB)
Great learner – poster
(Word 2007 90 KB)
How to be champion learner
(Word 2007 4 MB)
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Teacher inquiry and learning-focused relationships
These resources may be used individually or in professional learning groups to help teachers think about what constitutes a learning-focused relationship.
Teaching as inquiry – learning-focused relationships
(Word 2007 124 KB)
Messages about learning
(PDF 69 KB)
Y chart for learning-focused relationships
(PDF 82 KB)
Six main messages about learning – teacher worksheet
(Word 2007 21 KB)
These slides explore how you can use the inquiry cycle to strengthen learning-focused relationships.
Using the teaching as inquiry cycle to strengthen learning-focused relationships
(PowerPoint 2007 999 KB)
This exemplar describes a teacher inquiry on learning-focused relationships.
Teaching as inquiry – exemplar 2: Learning-focused relationships
(Word 2007 149 KB)
Building a learning-focused relationship
These articles provide good ideas for building learning-focused relationships in the classroom.
Suggestions for creating learning-focused relationships
(Word 1 MB)
LFR in the secondary classroom
(Word 2007 66 KB)
These videos from the Pasifika Education Community focus on getting to know the students.