Abstract:

Inclusive pedagogies such as whole child pedagogy, social and emotional learning and culturally responsive pedagogy use the student-teacher relationship (STR) as a mediator to establish the supportive environment essential for learning and development. The STR has also been demonstrated to be a mediator for student motivation and teacher wellbeing, both of which propel students toward positive school outcomes. Studies show that despite believing the supportive STR is an important classroom approach, teachers report either themselves or a colleague they know has difficulty connecting to students with different racial, cultural or socioeconomic status backgrounds. Practical approaches to mitigate those perceived differences and create close and positive STRs include a direct and proactive approach (i.e., 1:1 time, expressing care, getting to know your students, home visits, etc.). A prevalent context for these interactions includes an interest in who the student is outside of the classroom; however, the literature does not have a term to identify the context beyond the classroom. Common phrases such as "out-of-school," "extracurricular," and "outside of school time" are found in the literature to describe elements of a student’s interests outside of the classroom, but the aforementioned phrases are used inconsistently and sometimes negatively (i.e., out-of-school time spent in suspensions, skipping school, etc.). The literature does not present a consistent and concise manner in which education researchers or study participants can refer to that time outside of the classroom, nor does it acknowledge the context as an additional concept for supporting and motivating relationship building approaches. The context outside of the classroom, or "exo-scholastic" context as introduced in this paper, brings attention to, names and honours the diversity of experiences students engage in outside of school hours. The “exo-scholastic” context includes both the commonly understood organised hobbies referred to as 'extracurricular activities' and any other event in the intersections of culture, tradition, personal interest, club memberships or anything else of significance to the student. This paper draws on attachment and ecological systems theory to propose a name for the outside-of-school context, about which interactions can be initiated, the student-centred approach of inclusive pedagogies can be operationalized, and intentional dyadic relationship-building practices can be supported. Henceforth, the "exo-scholastic" context can be studied, with specificity and consistency, and contribute to education research on developing the dyadic STR.

Keywords:

Exo-scholastic, student-teacher relationship, motivation, inclusive pedagogy, whole child, social and emotional learning.