Why care about caring? Linking teachers’ caring and sense of meaning at work with students’ self-esteem, well-being, and school engagement

Research on teacher-student relationships shows their impact on students. However, it typically focuses on teachers’ interactions and instruction, with less attention to motivations/feelings. Specifically, almost no quantitative research has focused on teachers’ caring for students, despite its potential importance. The present multilevel study, comprising 675 students in ages 15–17 and their 33 homeroom teachers, linked students’ feelings that their teacher cares for them with their self-esteem, well-being, and school engagement and indicated that teacher-student relationships quality mediates these links. Furthermore, students’ reports on teachers’ caring were associated with teachers’ sense of meaning at work, suggesting its role in enhancing caring.