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For samples of older children in upper elementary school or in middle school, instrumental help would be a dimension of relevance in the teacher-student relationship.

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This study used attachment theory as a theoretical framework to understand teacher-student relationships.

Using a dataset from the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Singapore, the authors developed and validated a student version of the Teacher-Student Relationship Inventory (S-TSRI), with good psychometric properties for Singaporean children.

The three-factor S-TSRI model comprising the factors satisfaction, instrumental help, and conflict was first established by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Through subsequent multigroup CFAs, we found that the factorial invariance was supported across gender, grade levels, and students of different academic levels, represented by the pass and fail groups.

The structural model was tested in the total, pass, and fail groups.

For the total and pass groups, the factors satisfaction and instrumental help showed significant positive relationships with a sense of school belonging, and negative or non-significant relationships with aggression.

The conflict factor showed a weaker negative or non-significant relationship with a sense of school belonging, and a positive relationship with aggression.

For the fail group, identical results were obtained with one exception; this was discussed in light of the fail group having a different needs profile.

Findings from this study show that the 14-item S-TSRI measure has robust psychometric properties and yields scores that are reliable and valid in this large sample of primary school students from Singapore.

If the caregiver is responsive and sensitive, the infant will use the caregiver as a safe base from which to explore.

According to Bowlby (1969), a child with secure attachment will develop an internal working model of how a mutually satisfying social relationship ought to be.

These internal working models are mental representations that children use to guide behavior in developing successful social relationships with others in the future.

The attachment perspective has been extended to understand teacher-student relationships as well.

Even though the role of the teacher as an attachment figure is expected to be of greater importance for younger children compared to older children, teachers remain as key figures in the lives of older children and adolescents.

Students who have positive relationships with their teachers use teachers as a secure base to explore their classroom and school environment because they feel safe to do so.

Consequently, these students are more willing to take on challenges, learn about socially appropriate behaviors, and develop their socioemotional skills ( Hamre and Pianta, 2001 ).

Teachers who allow the students enough independence for exploration, yet monitor and provide developmentally appropriate scaffolds, provide strong support for the growth of the childs cognitive, social, and emotional competencies ( Verschueren and Koomen, 2012 ).

A close and supportive relationship with teachers, and one that is conflict-free, will serve as a safe haven and buffer from stress, permitting students to focus their energies on task engagement and interacting with significant others within the classroom and school context.

Some researchers have labeled this dimension as closeness (e.g., Pianta, 2001 ), whereas others have labeled it as satisfaction (e.g., Ang, 2005 ), support ( Hughes et al., 2008 ), or warmth ( Wu and Hughes, 2015 ).

The dimension of conflict is defined as the degree to which a teacher-student relationship is a negative, unpleasant, and conflictual one.

Across different researchers, this dimension appears to be consistently and universally labeled as conflict ( Pianta, 2001; Ang, 2005; Hughes et al., 2008; Wu and Hughes, 2015 ).

Dependency is defined as the degree to which the student is clingy, overly dependent, and overly reliant on the teacher.

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