diff --git a/bridgetown-core/lib/bridgetown-core/resource/relations.rb b/bridgetown-core/lib/bridgetown-core/resource/relations.rb
index 5a73389d6..4ecbcf822 100644
--- a/bridgetown-core/lib/bridgetown-core/resource/relations.rb
+++ b/bridgetown-core/lib/bridgetown-core/resource/relations.rb
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ def initialize(resource)
 
       # @return [HashWithDotAccess::Hash]
       def relation_schema
-        resource.collection.metadata.relations
+        @relation_schema ||= resource.collection.metadata.relations&.transform_values do |value|
+          value.is_a?(Array) ? value.map(&:to_s) : value.to_s
+        end
       end
 
       # @return [Array<String>]
diff --git a/bridgetown-core/test/test_relations.rb b/bridgetown-core/test/test_relations.rb
index 901a0820c..13d36b463 100644
--- a/bridgetown-core/test/test_relations.rb
+++ b/bridgetown-core/test/test_relations.rb
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ class TestRelations < BridgetownUnitTest
               "has_many" => "posts",
             },
           },
-          "posts"   => {
-            "relations" => {
-              "belongs_to" => "noodle",
+          posts: {
+            relations: {
+              belongs_to: :noodle,
             },
           },
         },