The research conducted by Kiefer and Pennington (2017) intended to find out if there is a correlation between teachers perceived as supporters of autonomous learning and the engagement level that students show. The researchers concluded that not only teachers influence but «directly shapes» student engagement, and is crucial when examining the perspectives of school students. Cinches et al., (2017) highlighted the impossibility of accurate student engagement studies without counting the teacher’s impact.

Another study on teacher support and students’ well-being, conducted by Suldo et al. (2009), intended to explore the relationship between teacher support and student success, revealing that supportive teacher-student interaction is likely to result in students’ academic engagement. Apart from studies on the significance of teacher-student relationships, there is more research on factors that influence these relationships. Aiming to get a deeper understanding of the factors that matter in teacher-learner interactions, Split et al., (2012) surveyed 657 students. They revealed that a lack of good relationship between educators and their learners causes student anxiety and insecurity which intervenes their social and educational growth. In a Zepke et al., (2010) survey, where 1200 students took part, it was identified that 4 of the 10 factors that enhance student engagement were directly connected to teacher-learner relationships, and in fact, supportive teacher behavior plays a crucial role in building positive teacher-student relationships.

Federici and Skaalvik (2014) described that emotional support from teachers is manifested when they show their warmth, respect, love, and level of trust to their students. According to Tennant et al. (2015), when learners receive positive emotional support from their teachers they tend to score higher on standardized tests. Strati et al. (2017) state that when students face emotional obstruction such as, teacher’s disrespect, sarcasm, or negative attitude towards specific students, the level of student engagement declines. Suldo et al. (2009) emphasized the overwhelming impact of negative teacher behaviors by claiming that negative emotional obstruction is «easily recalled» compared to emotional support. Moreover, Mayer and Turner (2002) argued that a lack of support in an academic setting might lead to loss of motivation and decreased engagement. They suggested that the behavior displayed by the teacher might influence not only students’ behavior but also their educational and emotional success.

According to Sandlin’s (2019) case study, students believed that teachers’ personalities have a significant impact on their engagement. Most students identified agreeableness and extraversion as important traits for building classroom engagement. Tennent et al. (2015) also emphasized the importance of positive relationships between teachers and students in achieving desirable outcomes.

Conclusion. This paper highlights the importance of teacher personality and student engagement in academic performance. Positive teacher traits, such as friendliness, openness, agreeableness, competence, and responsibility, can lead to better engagement and academic outcomes. Negative traits, such as neuroticism and introversion, can have the opposite effect. Supportive attitudes and emotional support from teachers can improve engagement, while negativity can harm it. Further research should observe teachers and students in authentic environments to provide empirical evidence.