Relationships are vital in a child’s development. In school, a happy, healthy relationship has long-lasting academic and social benefits for a person. This means it is the teachers’ responsibility to ensure all children are given opportunities to build relationships with their teachers and peers.

Dr Suzanne Zeedyk spoke about the importance of relationships to a child’s brain development. The living environment a child is raised in will develop their brain to adapt to these surroundings which they are familiar with for the rest of their lives. For example, if a child is raised in a bad living environment with bad relationships, such as a domestically abused home, their brain will be too worried and searching for the next sign of a threat rather than learning. The chemical, cortisol, is released when stressed, and children in bad relationship living situations have a much higher volume of cortisol in their system than other people who were brought up with healthy relationships. Relationships are key in every aspect of our lives because our brains develop due to the relationships that we have with others. Good relationships are critical in the teaching profession because those children who have better relationships with their teacher, classmates or family will feel safer, and more eager to learn in a friendlier and more welcoming environment.

Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan spoke about how adaptive babies are, and they will adapt to the environment they live in in order to survive. Relationships are important in the first 4 years of a baby’s life up to the age of 3. This is because “babies need consistency in their life”. However, not all children receive this at home, therefore, they need this support in nursery and primary. “One of the best ways to encourage brain development in a baby, is to smile at them”. As a primary educator, this speaks volumes to me as it shows that friendliness is the best way to encourage learning and good social relationships, which will better a child’s life.

In my professional practice, I will ensure I create a friendly, safe environment for my pupils to learn in and will take the time to create relationships with my pupils, as well as make time to allow them to create relationships with one another through play and groupwork.