Monika Platz

There are two points that I mentioned here and there in the book without considering them in a more systematic way: First, the normative nature of my concept of a good teacher-student relationship and how this relates to descriptive analyses of the teacher-student relationship, and second, the question of how certain parameters, such as the student’s age and maturity, might influence the degree to which the two major relationship goods of care and trust must be realized in order to constitute a good teacher-student relationship. Addressing these points is the aim of the first two parts of this chapter. The third part considers some of the consequences for the practice of teaching and learning in school that might follow from my theorizing by thinking about possible adaptations and measures that seek to amend the existing institutional structures of schools in a way that better accounts for the importance of the teacher-student relationship.

This excursus is dedicated to discussing an important objection that might be raised against the concept of a good teacher-student relationship that I have been defending so far. The objection says that when elaborating the concept of a good teacher-student relationship, I have only looked at the student’s intellectual needs without paying due attention to other important needs and interests of the student as a child/adolescent. This is a weighty objection that calls to mind a fundamental challenge that we always face when theorising about school education: How can we make sure that we respond adequately to the child’s intellectual interests, which are often future-oriented interests, without losing sight of their non-intellectual actual interests such as that of being in stable and valuable relationships? I am optimistic that the concept of a good teacher-student relationship that I have elaborated and defended so far responds to both to the student’s interests in education, as well as their actual interests concerning relationships. In the first part of this chapter, I will look at the objection in more detail in order to pin down exactly what it is about and how it affects my concept of a good teacher-student relationship. In the second part, I will argue that my concept of a good teacher-student relationship can accomodate major worries that the objection raises.

The purpose of this chapter is to spell out the understanding of the epistemic dimension of school education to which I am adhering and that will form the basis of my arguments concerning the relation between epistemic education at school and the teacher-student relationship throughout this book. In this explanation of epistemic education, I focus on its three core aims: the acquisition of epistemic goods, such as truth and knowledge; the development and improvement of epistemic skills; and the formation of the student’s intellectual character. While I consider the first two dimensions of school education—the acquisition of epistemic goods and the development of intellectual skills—to be rather uncontroversial, it might be more questionable whether intellectual character formation should be part of school education. Given this situation, I will dedicate more of the discussion to the third dimension than to the first two.

This chapter is dedicated to an analysis of trust in the teacher-student relationship. While the idea that trust is involved in a good relationship between teacher and student is plausible and uncontroversial, it is less obvious how exactly trust in this case should be analysed. For this reason, the first half of this chapter will provide a conceptual examination of trust between teacher and student that relies on the basic assumption that trusting each other is essentially about being in a trust-relationship. In the second half, I will explain the role that trust, understood as a trust-relationship between teacher and student, plays in epistemic education in school.

This chapter examines care in the teacher-student relationship. Care is a central element of a good teacher-student relationship. To support the student in their learning, the teacher needs to know how to guide the student in their investigations, how to prepare the course material so that the student can learn from it, how to motivate the student, and how to correct the student’s errors in a constructive and respectful manner. Only if the teacher cares for the student will they be able to accord their teaching and pedagogical interventions to the student’s intellectual needs and interests. Therefore, caring for the student is a major aspect of establishing an educational relationship that promotes the epistemic aims of education. Providing theoretical support to these intuitively appealing assumtions is the objective of this chapter.

When we think about what makes a teacher-student relationship a good relationship, some central features will certainly come to our mind: The relationship should be a trustful relationship, a relationship within which the participants show respect for each other and care for each other. Moreover, a good relationship between teacher and student is a relationship that promotes the aims of education, that encourages learning and provides support for the students. The aim of this and the next two chapters is to give a systematic account of what characterises a good teacher-student relationship and to defend the hypothesis that such a relationship has great value for achieving the key epistemic goals of school education.

My motivation to philosophically explore the teacher-student relationship is driven by the assumption that the relationship between teacher and student is an important element of education at school and as such irreplaceable. The central aim of this book is to find out more about the specific character of the teacher-student relationship and what it is that renders this relationship valuable, both for education in itself and for the teacher and student participating in the relationship. In answering some fundamental philosophical questions about the teacher-student relationship, I want to shed light on the normative structure of the teacher-student relationship, its role in teaching and learning, and its final value for teacher and student. This will help us to better understand the importance of this relationship for those participating in it and for reaching the epistemic aims of education at school.

The relationship between teacher and student is an important element of school education and as such irreplaceable: If we want schools to be good places for those who teach and learn there, we must make sure that the educational relationships between teachers and students are good, too. In research about school education, surprisingly little attention is paid to the normative dimension of the relationship between teacher and student. This lacuna points to a desideratum in the philosophy of education: More should be said about the normative structure of the teacher-student relationship, its role in teaching and learning, and its final value for teacher and student. Answering these fundamental philosophical questions is the core of this book. It offers a normatively rich concept of a good teacher-student relationship that is based on the analysis of two major relationship goods: trust and care. Moreover, the book explains the instrumental value of a good educational relationship for the student’s achievement of epistemic aims of school education as well as the final value of such a relationship for teacher and student.

What is the nature and what is the role of trust between teacher and student in academic education at school? Providing a philosophically informed answer to these questions is the aim of this paper. In its first part, I present a relationship account of trust based on two fundamental assumptions: first, trust between teacher and student is essentially about them being in a trust relationship, and second, the reasons for trust are relationship dependent. The second part explores the role of trust by looking at two aspects of academic education at school: the student's acquisition of knowledge from the teacher's testimony and the student's development of epistemic confidence, the latter being a key constituent of competent epistemic agency. Drawing on findings from developmental psychology, I explain how trust is involved in successful academic education at school. My aim is to provide a detailed conception of trust in the teacher–student relationship, as well as a conclusive argument for the importance and the value of trust in academic education at school.

In diesem Aufsatz vertrete ich die These, dass die Betreuungsverbote und einschränkungen für Kleinkinder, die im Zuge der Corona-Pandemie in Deutschland galten und immer noch gelten, in bestimmten Fällen zu signifikanten Verlusten des Wohlergehens von Kleinkindern führen. Dabei beziehe ich mich auf Kleinkinder, die in Strukturen leben, in denen die außerhäusliche Betreuung einen gewichtigen Beitrag zur Kinderbetreuung leistet. Ich werde dafür argumentieren, dass für diese Kinder der Wegfall der Kinderbetreuung bedeuten kann, dass gewichtige aktuelle immaterielle Wohlergehensinteressen nur noch teilweise oder gar nicht mehr befriedigt werden. Um diese Interessen und das Ausmaß ihrer Nichtbefriedigung zu beschreiben, greife ich auf das Konzept der Kindheitsgüter zurück und werde mich dabei auf drei gewichtige immaterielle Wohlergehensinteressen konzentrieren: das Interesse des Kindes an pädagogisch wertvollen Betreuungsstrukturen, das Bedürfnis des Kindes nach Austausch und Spiel mit Gleichaltrigen und das Interesse des Kindes, frei von Sorgen und Ängsten zu sein. Die anschließende kinderethische Auswertung dreier aktueller Studien zur Situation der Kinder und Familien unter den Bedingungen der Corona-Pandemie zeigt, dass besonders die Umstände während des Lockdowns im Frühjahr 2020, aber auch die fortbestehenden Einschränkungen bei der Kinderbetreuung sowie die veränderte Arbeitssituation der Eltern erheblich dazu beitragen, dass das Wohlergehen von Kleinkindern in dieser Hinsicht beeinträchtigt wird. Am Ende des Aufsatzes werde ich mich der Frage widmen, was bei der Ausgestaltung zukünftiger Maßnahmen zur Bekämpfung der Corona-Pandemie aus kinderethischer Perspektive berücksichtigt werden sollte, um das Wohlergehen der Kleinkinder so gut wie möglich zu schützen.