Comparison of Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions of Interpersonal Teacher Behavior

At several points we’ve indicated that students’ and teachers’ perceptions of interpersonal teacher behavior differ. In the Introduction we mentioned that studies have shown students’ perceptions of teacher behavior to be more consistent with observational data than teachers’ perceptions. Chapter 3 discussed differences in mean students’ and teachers’ QTI-Scores and in Chapter 5 we noted that students’ perceptions of interpersonal teacher behavior were more strongly related to student outcomes than teachers’ own perceptions. This chapter will discuss the nature of these differences, beginning with a general description followed by an analysis of how teachers perceive their actual and ideal behaviors. We’ll then present some explanations about the relationship between the real and ideal.