We can all remember that teacher who made a class or subject intolerable. Perhaps your children too have experienced a poor interpersonal relationship with a teacher, one that took a toll on their love for learning.

Fortunately, the flip side is also true, “If the teacher has a good relationship with the pupils then their interest for the subject taught is greater, and if the teacher exerts a large influence on what happens in class, the pupils learn more.”

According to a new study, it is difficult, if not impossible, for a teacher to fundamentally change a disrupted relationship with students once it occurs. It is therefore best for teachers to build a good relationship based on a large degree of influence (teacher dominance versus submissiveness) and proximity (teacher cooperation versus opposition) with a class right from day one.

A joint report by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and Utrecht University concludes, “The relationship between a teacher and class is important for the learning achievement of pupils and their pleasure in learning.” Dutch researcher Tim Mainhard discovered, “Teacher-class relationships are very stable over the course of a school year. Consequently if teachers get off to a bad start, it is almost impossible to put things right.” If, however, a single poor lesson occurs when the relationship is good, the situation often returns to normal over the course of a week.