Sabbatical J L Spilt: Co-regulation in close teacher-child relationship

In the last 30 years, there has been an increasing interest in research into the affective quality of dyadic teacher-student relationships. In the literature, the teacher-pupil relationship is described as a “secondary” or “ad-hoc” attachment relationship and teachers are considered “secondary” or “ad-hoc” attachment figures. This means that teachers perform the functions of safe harbor and secure base for children when primary attachment figures are absent.
Related to the function of a safe harbor is the co-regulating of emotions. When children experience stress or are emotionally upset (angry, frustrated, sad, …), they seek closeness and support from the teacher. Especially for young students and students with limited self-regulation skills, it is important that the teacher acts as a “co-regulator” of emotions when there is stress.
When and how do teachers act as “co-regulators”? And how important is this for the (emotional) self-regulation of students? I want to use this sabbatical to study these questions in the literature and - develop new research to fill the gaps in our knowledge (resource in function of future research).
In addition, the intention is to analyze and publish the first results of the ongoing research (FWO Credit to Navorsers) into emotion dialogues between teachers and students in special education (scientific article).
Finally, the intention is to bring together the existing scientific knowledge that we have built up in a book for (Dutch-speaking) professionals in pupil guidance with special attention is paid to Teacher Student Interaction Coaching (LLInC) and in close collaboration with Dr. H. Koomen, University of Amsterdam (science communication).