Error climate and alienation from teachers: A longitudinal analysis in primary school

Dealing with errors in the classroom is a crucial aspect of instructional quality and has multiple consequences for students' own dealing with errors, their learning and their achievement. The available literature on error climate indicates a paucity of research on the effects of perceived error climate on social aspects such as student-teacher relationships. The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine the relationship between error climate and alienation from teachers. We conducted a study with two measurement points in primary school (Grade 5 in 2017 and Grade 6 in 2018) and two samples (N = 406 students in 29 classes in Switzerland and N = 345 students in 39 classes in Luxembourg). For scrutinizing the effect of error climate at T1 on alienation from teachers at T2, we used hierarchical linear modelling (students nested within classrooms). For both samples, the results indicated that a positive error climate at T1 predicted less alienation from teachers at T2. We also found an effect of the shared error climate on alienation from teachers. The findings provide empirical evidence of the importance of improving how errors are handled in the classroom to prevent students' alienation from their teachers.