ABSTRACT
One could argue that this chapter should have been the first. For clearly, all the talk in the world about the nature of teacher action to improve pupil learning will come to naught if the learners are disaffected and resentful or anxious and afraid. There is eloquent testimony in the writing of many educationists that argues a prior condition for all teaching and learning: the existence of a relationship between teacher and learner that is humane and based on mutual respect. (See, among many others, School of Barbiana 1970 and Kohl 1977). I accept this viewpoint and associate myself with it. However, it seems to me that it is also necessary to try to understand the processes that enhance learning and to maximize these and minimize those that impede learning. The two considerations of the need to employ systematic approaches to teaching and the development of a positive relationship between teacher and learner are, in fact, mutually dependent and supportive of each other. A systematic approach can help teachers to understand better the nature of their relationships with their pupils and to improve it. A supportive, humane relationship can help pupils and teachers to engage in pedagogical activity that enhances the learning of both.
