Faculty trust in the principal: an essential ingredient in high-performing schools (original) (raw)
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Principals, Trust, and Cultivating Vibrant Schools
Societies, 2015
Although principals are ultimately held accountable to student learning in their buildings, the most consistent research results have suggested that their impact on student achievement is largely indirect. Leithwood, Patten, and Jantzi proposed four paths through which this indirect influence would flow, and the purpose of this special issue is to examine in greater depth these mediating variables. Among mediating variables, we assert that trust is key. In this paper, we explore the evidence that points to the role that faculty trust in the principal plays in student learning and how principals can cultivate trust by attending to the five facets of trust, as well as the correlates of trust that mediate student learning, including academic press, collective teacher efficacy, and teacher professionalism. We argue that trust plays a role in each of the four paths identified by Leithwood, Patten, and Jantzi. Finally, we explore possible new directions for future research.
This research was designed to examine the relationship between reciprocal trust in schools and school climate. Trust in schools was measured as the trust perceptions of teachers, principals, and parents. School climate with its four dimensions -collegial leadership, teacher professionalism, academic press, and community engagement -was measured through the perceptions of teachers. By incorporating parent and principal perceptions, this study was intended to supplement the body of research linking trust and school climate. Surveys were used to collect the perceptions of teachers, principals and parents from a nonrandom sample of 11 high schools in the state of New York. A total of 11 principals (100%), 139 teachers (63%), and 150 parents (23%) returned usable surveys. All data were aggregated to the school level using the means from completed survey items. The levels of reciprocal trust and the school climate data were then statistically analyzed using the non-parametric Spearman's rho test. The major findings of this study indicated that of the three types of reciprocal trust examined, only two were significantly related to either school climate or one of its four dimensions. Reciprocal parent-teacher trust was significantly related to community engagement, and reciprocal teacher-principal trust was significantly related to collegial leadership. Results indicated that none of the schools in the study had a high level of reciprocal trust regardless of the role groups considered. Both the findings of this study and those of previous research indicate that the more collegial the leadership practices of the principal, the more the principal and teachers trust one another, and the more open a school is to working collaboratively with parents v and the community, the more parents and teachers trust one another. Based on these findings, it is recommended that school system leaders take into consideration the importance of not only community support, but also of the level of trust that exists between the school and the community.
This study examines whether teachers in the high performing schools have high levels of trust towards their principal. The study also compares differences in teacher demographic profiles based on their teaching experiences, academic qualifications, age, types of schools and gender. A total of 250 teachers from five selected high performing schools were randomly selected based on teacher trust levels. The study used Tschannen-Moran’s (2004) model of trust as instrument, which included benevolence, reliability, competence, honesty and openness as facets of trust. The findings reveal that generally teachers in high performing schools agree to their principals showing these five facets of trust at a high level. Openness facet places the highest level of trust, followed by reliability. On the other hand, facets of benevolence exhibit the lowest level of teacher trust onto principal. Furthermore, the findings unveil significant difference between the premier types within the sub-urban school in the sampled schools. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are also addressed.
Educational Administration Quarterly, 2008
The leadership of the principal is known to be a key factor in supporting student achievement, but how that leadership is experienced and instructionally enacted by teachers is much less clear. The purpose of this study was to examine various factors that are often present in principal-teacher interactions and teacher-teacher relationships to see how those may have an impact on teachers' classroom instructional practices. Data Collection and Analysis: Data for this quantitative study are from a teacher survey developed for the national research project, Learning from Leadership, funded by the Wallace Foundation. There are 4,165 completed surveys in the database, which reflects responses from teachers in grades K-12 in a sample of schools across the United States. Using a conceptual framework based on various known components of effective schools today, a stepwise linear regression examined the relationships among practices such as shared leadership and professional community with contextual variables such as trust and efficacy. Findings: Three types of instructional behaviors-Standard Contemporary Practice, Focused Instruction, and Flexible Grouping Practices-emerged as strong factors which operationally described effective teacher practice. The presence of shared leadership and professional community explain much of the strength among the three instructional variables. Furthermore, the effect of teachers' trust in the principal becomes less important when shared leadership and professional community are present. Self-efficacy strongly predicts Focused Instruction, but it has less predictive value for the other measures of instructional behavior. Individual teacher characteristics of gender and years of experience have clear impact on instructional practice, but there are no discernible patterns that suggest that the level of the principal (elementary vs. secondary) have more or less influence on teacher instructional behaviors.
Using structural equation modeling this study investigates casual relationship between transformational leadership, procedural justice and teacher trust in principal in two different models. A sample including 652 teachers were selected and data were collected through three questionnaires. Results demonstrate that a model which hypothesizes direct and indirect effect of transformational leadership on trust in principal has better fit to data and explains .66 variance of trust in principal. Also procedural justice has partial mediating role between transformational leadership and teacher trust in principal. The results were discussed in the final section of the article.
Trust in School Principals: Teachers’ Opinions
Journal of Education and Learning, 2017
Trust is considered as one of the essential elements at schools. Although it is important, there is relatively little research on trust in educational settings. Research indicate that trust across school affects much of a school’s functioning and it is a critical resource as principals embark on improvement plans. In this regard, it is a matter of question whether teachers trust in their principals as school leaders, in their administrative implementations and in their principals’ personalities. Therefore, this qualitative study purposed to discover teachers’ opinions on their trust in their school principals. Results reveal that teachers of this sample do not trust in their principals in all sub-themes in general. It can be concluded that there is a lack of trust in their principals in all sub-themes among teachers at schools. It is recommended that principals should be chosen and appointed to their posts with a more careful way.
Relations between Trust in Principal and Shared Leadership
The purpose of this study is to discover and describe the perceptions of teachers about their level of trust in principals and shared leadership skills in schools. The study group was 1,174 teachers from randomly selected schools in Istanbul, Kocaeli and Sakarya. The research was conducted on relational survey method. Data analyzed in a packet program for social sciences. The research indicated that trust in principal was positively and significantly related to shared leadership and its sub-dimensions. The correlation analysis predicted that there was a medium level of positive correlation between trust in principal and shared leadership perceptions of the teachers. Moreover, emotional support and joint completion of task dimension of shared leadership are predictors of trust in principals in Turkish schools therefore, the researcher can claim that trust in principals is the core of organizational trust level and increasing shared leadership behavior as well.
Principal Self-Efficacy, School Climate, and Teacher Retention: A Multi-Level Analysis
2019
This article presents the findings of a correlational study that examines the relationship among the variables of principal self-efficacy, school climate, and teacher retention. A purposeful sample of 11 principals from a southeastern Texas school district were given the Principal Sense of Efficacy Scale to determine each individual's level of self-efficacy. Simultaneously, a sample of 233 current and former teachers completed the Organizational Climate Index to measure the school climate of each participating school. The results of the multi-level analysis indicate that overall a relationship does not exist between either principal self-efficacy and teacher retention or principal self-efficacy and school climate. However, findings do suggest a relationship between teacher retention and school climate. More specifically, teachers are more likely to remain employed at campuses that are less influenced by vocal parent and citizen groups. Cet article présente les résultats d'un...
Why teachers trust school leaders
Journal of Educational Administration, 2013
Research indicates trust in schools significantly relates to student achievement and trust in school leaders significantly relates to trust in schools. This study expands on the existing research by identifying behaviours principals display and teachers identify that correspond to antecedent conditions of trust, as identified in the research literature. Principal understandings are compared to teacher articulated thoughts in order to identify if shared understandings and interpretations of events are a component of trust in schools. Seventeen survey questions about trust were asked in 138 schools. Three high trust and three low trust schools were identified via deviation from the grand mean. Interview data related to a broad spectrum of school structures and daily events was gathered at the six identified schools from a randomly selected group of teachers and each school's principal. The interview data was coded using antecedent conditions of trust as the organizational units for analysis. Supporting previous research, this thesis finds teacher data identified the antecedent conditions that are described most frequently by teachers as being Competence, Consistency and Reliability, Openness and Respect. Principal data identified the antecedent conditions of trust as being similar, not identical. There are relevant differences described in elements within the antecedents between teachers and school leaders. Overall, the results confirm the findings of Bryk and Schneider and Tschannen-Moran, while adding detail to the understanding of what matters in trust when in-school educators reflect on issues of organizational life. iii Acknowledgements Many people have supported me along my doctoral journey. While naming each and every person that has offered encouragement and conversation about the topic of trust is not possible, I have appreciated your willingness to engage with me and to support me.