Seeing the teacher through my peers' eyes? A social network study on adolescents' teaching quality perceptions

Background

Prior research has documented the pervasive influence that peers can exert on adolescents’ lives. However, knowledge on whether adolescents’ perceptions of the quality of the teacher's instruction are also prone to peer influences is lacking.

Method

This study (N = 248 German adolescents) used longitudinal social network analysis to investigate whether (a) friends become more similar in their teaching quality perceptions (influence effects) and/or whether (b) students with initially more similar perceptions of teaching quality were more likely to become friends (selection effects). We also explored whether (c) students with more positive teaching quality perceptions were better integrated socially.

Results

We did not find support for influence or selection effects. However, students who rated their teacher's instruction more positively were better integrated socially.

Conclusions

Our work adds to research on the role of peers in adolescence and enhances our understanding of peer influences on students’ perceptions of instruction.