Cultivating Purposeful Positive Relationships: The Need for Meaningful Connections in Education

Abstract

This theoretical paper presents existing research surrounding various aspects of relationships in schools, along with questions that have surfaced from the findings focusing on in-risk male teens. This paper intentionally utilizes the term in-risk to suggest students have lived experiences resulting in being in-risk of being pushed out of the school system and thus not graduating from high school. The reader will notice the term deviant is only used when speaking to behaviour and not used as a way to label a youth. Critical areas of collective teacher-efficacy, interpersonal and learning relationships, and the factors associated with in-risk male teens becoming incarcerated will be examined, as this paper addresses the need to foster positive relationships, across the educational system, as a way to keep in-risk male teens engaged in school. Finally, a theory will be presented addressing further research that the author will continue to discover and unravel.