Teachers’ perspectives on relational trust in their school communities

Abstract

Trust is the foundation to a thriving learning community. The intent of this research was to investigate teachers’ perspectives on relational trust among the different members of their learning communities including teachers, students, colleagues and the community. The research design of the study was a mixed methods, paper-based survey. It was created to retrieve quantitative and qualitative data on the current teachers’ perspectives on relational trust and the strategies teachers are using to build relational trust with the members of their learning community. Relational trust is an important factor in academic achievement in learning communities and the data presented shows that the current perspective of teachers in School District #70 is that relational trust exists in strong levels between teachers and all members of their learning community.