Is teachers' mental health and wellbeing associated with students' mental health and wellbeing?

•Better teacher wellbeing is associated with better student wellbeing and with lower student psychological difficulties.•Lower teacher depressive symptoms are associated with better student wellbeing.•Teacher presenteeism and the teacher-student relationship may be mediating factors in these relationships.•There is an association between teacher-student relationship quality, teacher presenteeism and teacher absence with student wellbeing and psychological distress.