Edu-Homily Watch: Do Students Need to Like Their Teachers to Learn?

It helps to be liked, but the opposite is more true: Students like teachers they learn from.

Every teacher has heard it said: Students won’t learn from someone they don’t like. It’s a lovely sentiment: warm, intuitive, and flattering to those of us who spend our days in classrooms, care about kids and enjoy their company. Who wouldn’t want to believe that our ability to connect with students is the key to unlocking their potential?

The idea was popularized by the late Rita Pierson, a teacher whose 2013 TED Talk, “Every Kid Needs a Champion” has been viewed nearly 7 million times. Pierson argued that strong, authentic connections between teachers and students are essential for learning. But as appealing as the idea is, it’s simply not true—or at least, it’s an incomplete picture of how learning happens. While a harmonious classroom is obviously more pleasant for children and teacher alike, students can and do learn from teachers they don’t particularly like. Learning depends far more on factors like instructional quality, student motivation, and the overall learning environment than on the teacher’s rapport with students.

Positive teacher-student relationships matter. When students feel cared for and supported by their teachers, they are more likely to be engaged in learning, perform better academically, and experience better emotional well-being. A meta-analysis by Roorda et al. (2011) found a significant positive correlation between teacher-student relationships and both engagement and achievement. Similarly, studies like those by Hamre and Pianta (2001) demonstrate that students who experience positive interactions with teachers are more likely to succeed academically, especially in their early years. These relationships contribute to a sense of belonging, which in turn fosters motivation and persistence. And in the long run, students who have strong relationships with their teachers are more likely to view education as a positive force in their lives.

So yes, relationships matter. But do they determine whether students learn? Not exactly.

Learning Beyond “Likeability”

While positive relationships enhance learning, they are not a prerequisite for it. Students can and do achieve academically even when their personal feelings toward a teacher are neutral or even negative. The most powerful driver of student learning isn’t personal chemistry with a teacher; it’s the quality of instruction. Decades of research underscore the effectiveness of well-structured, clear, and purposeful teaching practices. For instance, Barak Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction highlights the importance of explicit teaching, guided practice, and scaffolding in promoting understanding and retention. These methods work regardless of the emotional dynamics between teacher and student. Similarly, John Hattie’s meta-analyses identify high-impact instructional strategies, such as formative assessment and direct instruction, as more influential on student outcomes than relational factors. "The key is the student perception that the teacher is someone who cares for them, and thus high trust is critical,” Hattie writes in Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning. “Teachers who are too distant or overly familiar may not win the respect of their students. The most effective teacher-student relationships are characterized by a balance of care and high challenge, where students feel supported to achieve challenging goals." In other words, a teacher’s ability to deliver clear and effective lessons outweighs whether students find them likable. A poorly organized lesson can frustrate even the most enthusiastic students, while a well-designed one can engage students who might otherwise be disengaged. A carefully scaffolded math lesson or a well-structured writing workshop can lead to significant learning gains, regardless of how students feel about their teacher.

Internal motivation also plays a critical role in students’ ability to learn. According to Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory, learning is driven by the interplay of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. While relatedness—feeling connected to others—can enhance motivation, it’s not the sole factor. Students with strong autonomy or competence motivation often succeed regardless of their personal feelings toward a teacher. Moreover, resilience research shows that many students have the capacity to adapt and thrive even in less-than-ideal circumstances. Masten (2001) describes resilience as "ordinary magic"—the ability to draw on internal strengths and external supports to overcome challenges. Students who are determined to succeed will often find ways to do so, even if they don’t particularly care for their teacher.

Consider environments where personal relationships are minimal or non-existent yet learning still happens. Standardized test preparation programs, for instance, often focus on repetition, clear strategies, and targeted practice rather than relational factors. Students in these programs achieve success because the instruction is goal-oriented and structured. Similarly, online and asynchronous learning environments demonstrate that students can thrive without face-to-face interaction. A 2010 study by Means et al. found that online learning can be as effective as traditional classroom instruction, provided the content is well-designed and the expectations are clear. These examples show that learning is fundamentally a cognitive process, not solely an emotional one.

The Takeaway for Teachers

So, what does this mean for those of us in the classroom? First, it’s a reminder that while building relationships with students is important, it’s not the be-all and end-all of teaching. Our primary responsibility is to ensure that instruction is clear, purposeful, and effective. A teacher who delivers rigorous, engaging lessons and maintains high expectations will often see results, even if they’re not universally adored.

Second, this myth-busting exercise challenges us to rethink what we mean by "liking" a teacher. Students may not need to like their teachers in a personal sense, but they do need to respect them and trust that they are competent and fair. Establishing professional authority and consistency can go a long way toward fostering this respect, even in the absence of warm personal bonds.

As with most kindly edu-homilies, the problem isn’t that it’s wrong, per se, but that it may send the wrong instructional signals, suggesting that “likability” is key to student achievement, when the reverse effect is truer: Students are more apt to like teachers who help them learn effectively. Teachers who can explain concepts clearly, set high expectations, and provide constructive feedback often earn student admiration, even if their initial demeanor is strict or demanding: Competence often builds trust and appreciation over time. By contrast, teachers who rely solely on being liked without demonstrating strong pedagogical skills may foster a pleasant environment but struggle to drive significant learning outcomes.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project found that students’ positive attitudes toward teachers were closely tied to their perceptions of learning gains (Kane et al., 2013). Thomas J. Kane and colleagues found that students' perceptions of a teacher's ability to manage the classroom and provide challenging, rigorous work were strongly linked to higher student achievement gains. As the report stated, "Most important are students' perception of a teacher's ability to control a classroom and to challenge students with rigorous work." Hattie similarly observed that “teachers who demonstrate clarity and provide actionable feedback are more likely to build trust and admiration, as students attribute their success to their teacher’s expertise.”

Interestingly, students may only recognize the value of effective teachers over time. The "warm demander" approach, which combines high expectations with caring support, highlights this delayed appreciation. Students may initially resist demanding teachers but often reflect positively on their impact once they experience growth and achievement. This delayed recognition supports the idea that students ultimately like teachers they learn from, even if the relationship begins with challenges. Thus, while likability can support learning in the short term, long-term admiration and respect often hinge on a teacher’s ability to facilitate meaningful progress.

There’s nothing wrong with taking inspiration from Ted Talks and the edu-homilies they popularize, but in this case teachers would do well to not to take the advice too literally: students learn from teachers they like. But they like teachers they learn from.

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