Trust

Relational trust and the social relationships at work in schools are fundamental to and a critical resource for schools capacity to improve. Trust is a factor in student-teacher relationships, teacher-teacher relationships, teacher-leadership relationships, and school-family & community relationships (Bryk & Schneider, 2002).

Relational trust consists of four components:

  1. Respect: Respectful exchanges are marked by genuinely listening to what each person has to say and by taking these views into account in subsequent actions. Even when people disagree, individuals can still feel valued if others respect their opinions. Without interpersonal respect, social exchanges may cease. People typically avoid demeaning situations if they can. When they don't have this option, sustained conflict may erupt.
  2. Competence: School community members also want their interactions with others to produce desired outcomes. This attainment depends, in large measure, on others' role competence. For example, teachers want supportive work conditions for their practice, which depends on the capacity of the school principal to fairly, effectively, and efficiently manage basic school operations. Teachers also usually want to keep getting better at teaching, which depends on the principal connecting them with expertise and learning opportunities (either by directly providing them or by distributing leadership) that will help them grow. Similarly, students want to increase their feelings of efficacy and productiveness in school, and to the extent that they believe that their teacher can help them achieve those ends, trust will increase.
  3. Personal regard: Personal regard springs from the willingness of participants to extend themselves beyond the formal requirements of a job definition or a union contract. When these efforts become the norm in the classroom and across a school community, the climate of trust increases.
  4. Personal Integrity: Perceptions about personal integrity also shape relational trust. The first question that we ask is whether we can trust others to keep their word. Integrity also demands that a moral-ethical perspective guides one's work. For students, trust in their teacher rests in part on whether that teacher follows through on their commitments to students consistently.

When there is relational trust a cycle of improvement begins to take place: Interdependence → mutual vulnerability →collective action to reduce vulnerability → enhances trust. Relational trust is recursive: success builds trust, builds success, etc.

Source:

Bryk, A. S., & Schneider, B. (2002). Trust in schools: A core resource for improvement. New York: Russel Sage Foundation.