Relationship between Teacher’s Emotional Support and Students’ Academic Engagement at Secondary Level in District Peshawar

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the correlation between teacher emotional support and academic engagement of secondary school students in District Peshawar. The study used a quantitative, cross sectional, correlational design with a sample of 350 male students from 35 government boys' high schools. Teacher emotional support was measured using a structured questionnaire that consisted of four dimensions: Care and Empathy, Encouragement and Confidence-Building, Emotional Responsiveness and Availability, and Respect, Acceptance, and Fair Treatment; while academic engagement was measured using Behavioral, Emotional, and Cognitive Engagement. The descriptive results indicated that teacher emotional support (M = 3.480, SD = 0.760) and academic engagement (M = 3.416, SD = 0.771) were high. Pearson correlation showed that there was a strong, positive, and statistically significant correlation between the variables (r =.713, p<.001). Multiple linear regression also revealed that the four dimensions of teacher emotional support accounted for 51.0% of the variance in academic engagement. Respect, Acceptance, and Fair Treatment was the most significant predictor, followed by Emotional Responsiveness and Availability. The results indicated that students' academic engagement increased when they felt their teachers were caring, encouraging, responsive, respectful, and fair.