An exploration of the role of gratitude in enhancing teacher–student relationships

• Strong rationale for conceptualising gratitude as a practice.
• Teachers initially conceptualise gratitude as a direct action or emotion.
• Gratitude practices, particularly greetings, lead to increased social interaction.
• Positive impact in areas of relationships and wellbeing, and school atmosphere.
• Challenges noted add to the refinement of the conceptual framework.

Flourishing relationships are at the core of teachers' work and effective pedagogy. This paper presents an exploratory case study of 59 secondary schoolteachers to investigate the role that gratitude may have in enhancing teacher–student relationships. Although the potential of gratitude has been gaining international attention in the areas of positive and social psychology, there have only been a few studies on the effect of teachers' gratitude. The paper presents a conceptual framework that postulates the meaning and significance of gratitude in this context and then describes a qualitative case study. Results indicate that gratitude impacted positively on the teachers, classroom and school environment.