A developmental-ecological theoretical perspective provides a framework to examine emotional and behavioural difficulties as a function of school classroom learning demands. This model acknowledges the development of emotional and behavioural difficulties as a function of the dynamic transaction between situational demands and child capacities over time. Research into teacher interpersonal behaviour and students’ skills could help us explain most of the student variance at classroom level. Research has demonstrated the importance of the field of classroom environment research, particularly the use of students’ perceptions and how this field has contributed to understanding and improving student achievement and attitudes. Students’ perceptions of teacher interpersonal behaviour have been mainly associated to cognitive and affective student outcomes in a taught subject and in a limited degree to students’ prosocial or antisocial behaviour. Current study aims to investigate if a link exists between students’ perceptions of their teachers’ interpersonal behaviour and their prosocial strengths and emotional and behavioural difficulties, at school. Classroom environment research has been somewhat limited in elementary schooling compared with secondary schooling. Thus, the present study aims to contribute by focusing on primary education students’ perceptions and behaviour. At the same time, advocates of Social and Emotional Learning (S.E.L) assert that possession of social and emotional skills is an important determinant of adequate psychosocial adjustment. The acquisition of social and emotional skills is believed to be crucial to the healthy psychological development of children and adolescents and to the maintenance of healthy relationships across the lifespan. Although the promotion of prosocial behaviour in the classroom is now an active research issue, it still remains the case that children’s prosocial behaviour is less salient in terms of the perceptions of classroom participants. While there are studies exploring the relationships between teacher interpersonal behaviour or students’ certain social and emotional skills with their behavioural adjustment, the studies that employ all the parameters above are limited. Students’ own perceptions of their skills and interactions with teachers have been explored in a limited way and primarily in the domain of students’ negative behaviours. The current study aimed to map the process with which teachers’ interpersonal behaviour and students’ social and emotional skills are related to students’ strengths and emotional and behavioural difficulties, and develop a heuristic model of the prediction of students’ adjustment at schools.

Participants Nine hundred and twenty nine Greek students (458 boys and 471 girls) from state elementary schools participated in the study. The age range of the students was 10-11 year olds. Measurement instruments 1. The Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI). Students’ perceptions included 2 dimensions: Influence and Proximity. The Greek version of the QTI consists of 63 items, which are answered on a 5-point Likert scale, and is divided into 8 scales: leadership, helpful/friendly, understanding, student’s responsibility/freedom, uncertain, dissatisfied, admonishing and strict. 2. The Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY), designed to measure social and emotional skills. MESSY includes 6 factors: appropriate social skills, inappropriate assertiveness, impulsive/recalcitrant, overconfident, jealousy/withdrawal, and miscellaneous items. 3. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), generating scores for both behaviour problems and prosocial behaviour. SDQ is divided into five scales: hyperactivity scale, emotional symptoms scale, conduct problems scale, peer problems scale, and prosocial scale.

It was found that in conjunction with social and emotional skills, teacher interpersonal behaviour had a strong influence on antisocial and prosocial behaviour in school. Teacher proximity was significantly associated with students’ behaviour in class. Acknowledgement of students’ perceptions of their behavioural capacities and teacher behaviour can serve as a powerful feedback tool for teachers about their instructional behaviour and classroom management. This investigation would provide information about both child-level behavioural skills and teacher students’ interactions that stimulate emotional and behavioural difficulties in elementary schools.