Abstract:
Ongoing large-scale Chinese education reform earns educators' attention on interpersonal relationship between teachers and students. Similarly, recent Australian national education policy (statements) argues the importance of such a relationship. Long-established cultural discourses in China are deeply embedded in interpersonal relationship between teachers and students. It is strongly reflected in its educational discourse. This paper investigated the differences in interpersonal relationship between teachers and students at Chinese and Australian universities. Students and academic staff in Teachers College of Hebei University and University of Tasmania were invited to participate in this study. Narrative research was primarily used in this study. The results indicate that cultures, ideology and gender have a great influence on the perceptions of interpersonal relationship between teachers and students, particularly from the Chinese perspective; the significance of this relationship goes beyond the setting of current teaching and learning and strengthens further in a wider social context.