Teachers' job satisfaction and students’ meta-perspectives of relationship quality: Exploring the mediating role of job performance

Teacher job satisfaction is a growing international concern, with evidence linking declining satisfaction to reduced well-being and poorer classroom functioning. Drawing on Broaden-and-Build Theory and Social Exchange Theory, job satisfaction is conceptualised as a psychological resource that supports teachers' job performance, with implications for students' perceptions of teacher-student relationship quality. We examined whether job performance helps explain the association between teachers' job satisfaction and student-reported relationship quality. Data were collected from teachers (N = 36) and students (N = 159) in six secondary schools in the East of England via a questionnaire. Job satisfaction showed indirect associations with all student-rated relationship dimensions: positively via teaching efficacy and positive affect, and negatively via workload stress. These findings highlight how students' interpretations of teachers’ enacted job performance relate to perceptions of relationship quality in the classroom.