Educators are witnessing an underlying shift toward recognizing the effects of relationships on development for youth and adults alike in many contexts. Parenting, teaching, mentoring, youth work, out-of-school programming, and therapy have all had shifts in underlying theory, such as attachment models, resilience studies, and feminist psychology, toward a focus on the essential role of relationships in growth, learning, and healing. The most academically successful schools are typically those where students feel attached to and respected by their teachers. Patients who feel understood and cared for by their therapist have better therapeutic results. It is not the specific method of interaction that is the most critical determinant of success in these social fields, whether different styles of teaching or schools of therapy, but the quality and perception of the interaction between patient and therapist, student and teacher, mentee and mentor, youth and youth worker. These authors recommend that teachers be trained to employ emotional and relational abilities in order to develop positive relationships with students, and, even more important, that schools institutionalize the development and promotion of a relational school climate. (Contains 20 notes.)