Linking social–emotional competence, learning engagement, and teacher–student relationship to academic achievement: a structural equation model approach

Introduction Relationships play an essential role in learning, particularly in peer relationships and the teacher–student relationship. Social–emotional competence, learning engagement, and teacher–student relationship can directly influence students’ academic achievement. Methods This study examines the relationship among these fac¬tors and explores how they collectively link to the engagement and academic achievement of 1,528 pre-service teachers in a normal university through Social Construction Theory. We analyzed the data using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results Findings revealed that all dimensions of social–emotional competence (self-relationship, interpersonal relationship, collective relationship, and responsible decision making) and the teacher–student relationship are associated with learning engagement. Two dimensions of social–emotional competence, collective relationship and responsible decision-making, are significantly correlated to academic achievement. Discussion This study offers guidance and recommendations for pre-service teachers to enhance their overall growth in engagement and learning outcomes.