The Role of the Teacher in Children’s Peer Relations

Teachers must address both children’s academic and social needs to maintain a supportive and optimal learning environment. In order to successfully create and maintain an optimal learning environment, teachers’ influence on children’s peer relations in the classroom must be intentional. This can be accomplished by addressing how psychological research on children’s peer relations can be explicitly applied to the classroom context. This review addresses contemporary research in children’s peer relations during the elementary school years with a primary focus on how teachers can intentionally influence children’s peer acceptance in classroom settings. Teachers should intentionally shape children’s peer relations in their elementary classrooms through increasing their attunement to peer group affiliations, using classroom management strategies that foster intended classroom norms, and using classroom spatial arrangements effectively.