Ethnic attitudes of minority students and their contact with majority group teachers

a r t i c l e i n f o Research on intergroup attitudes in children has focused on contact with out-group peers but neglected the role of adults. This cross-sectional self-report study examined the association between the ethnic attitudes of 174 minority (Turkish-and Moroccan–Dutch) preadolescents (ages 9–13) and the perceived interpersonal relationships with their (native Dutch) majority group teachers. Majority classmates (97 native Dutch children) were included as a control group. Analyses showed that Turkish and Moroccan students who had better relationships with their Dutch teacher had more positive attitudes toward the Dutch out-group, especially in relatively segregated classrooms. The positive aspect of the relationship ('closeness') was more important than the negative aspect ('conflict'). The link between out-group attitudes and the relationship with majority teachers was not significant for the majority students. Findings show that contact theory can be applied to interactions between children and important adults, and that student-teacher relationships can contribute to more harmonious ethnic relations. In many Western countries, schools are segregated along ethnic lines (Karsten, 2010). For instance, in the four largest cities in The Netherlands, where the current study was conducted, ethnic minority students tend to have many more minority classmates compared to majority students (73% versus 26%; Gijsberts & Herweijer, 2010). School segregation is problematic for all kinds of reasons. In particular , segregated schools provide students with little opportunities for regular, daily contacts with peers from other ethnic groups. According to intergroup contact theory, these contacts are important for the promotion of ethnic integration and positive intergroup relations (Allport, 1954; Tropp & Prenovost, 2008). However, fellow students are not the only source of out-group contact, especially not for ethnic minority children. Although school segregation implies that minority students visit schools with small proportions of majority students, most of their teachers tend to be of a majority background. For instance , in the American educational system the workforce is predominantly white (Little & Bartlett, 2010), and in the Netherlands, most teachers are native Dutch (Thijs, Westhof, & Koomen, 2012). In the present study, we examine whether minority children's perception of the relationship with their majority teacher is related to their attitude toward the majority out-group. This is important for two reasons. First, it allows us to test whether intergroup contact theory can be generalized to the domain of the student-teacher relationship. This relationship is critical for children's adjustment but has been neglected …