Trust in School
Trust
Human beings can fix anything with
enough time
and enough duct tape
Except Trust
Trust
If you had to explain trust to someone who had
not heard the word, what would you say?
• Write independently-5 minutes
• Share with a partner-5 minutes
• Make a list of the qualities of trust you identified
School Improvement
Schools improve when the staff shares the
common belief in the nobility of their
profession and value the dignity of each
other, students and student’s families.
Relational trust is essential to the development
of these common believes and values
Changes
• Make a list of 3-5 changes that you
have seen in the past three years at
your school or in your district.
Differentiating Change
from Transition
• Change is not the same as Transition
• Change is external, Transition is internal
• Transition is the psychological process
people go through to come to terms with the
new situation
• Unless Transition occurs, Change will not
work
-Based on the work of William Bridges
Vision
Skills
Resources
Payoff
Action
Plan
Change
Vision
Skills
Resources
Payoff
Action
Plan
Sabotage
Trust
Vision
Skills
Resources
Payoff
Action
Plan
Confusion
Trust
Vision
Skills
Resources
Payoff
Action
Plan
Anxiety
Trust
Vision
Skills
Resources
Payoff
Action
Plan
Anger
Trust
Vision
Skills
Resources
Payoff
Action
Plan
Sporadic
Change
Vision
Skills
Resources
Payoff
Action
Plan
Trust
Trust
False
Starts
Tradition does not imply trust
of any kind, this is so
because tradition, as long as it
prevails, may substitute
for trust…when tradition stops
playing a major role
TRUST BECOMES
CRUCIAL
Piotr Sztompka,1999
Relational Trust
Interdependent Work Environment
Cooperation/Collaboration
TRUST
Competence, Integrity, Respect, Regard
The Importance of Trust
• Strongest Level Of Trust: 1 in 2 chances of
making significant improvements in
student learning
• Weakest Level of Trust: 1 in 7 chances of
making significant improvements in
student learning
- Bryk and Schneider
Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for Improvement
Structures/Behaviors that
don’t build trust
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Distrust among parents, teachers, and
administrators
Suspicion of “outsiders”
Tensions pertaining to race, ethnicity, age
cohort--predisposition to factions
Generalized anger--patterns of withdrawal
“Happy Talk”
Poor internal communications
Institutional inability to learn from experience
Ego fragility/emotional fatigue
Teacher isolation
Trust becomes an indispensable
strategy to deal with
the opaqueness of our social
environment.
Without trust we would be
paralyzed and unable to act
Types of Trust in Schools

Contractual

Organic

Social
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Relational
Contractual Trust
Contractual trust is based on delineated
agreements. People trust that others will
follow the agreement. Because staff
members in a district work on contracts
there is some of this expectation in
schools. Because contracts can not
delineate everything that happens in
schools this trust is commonly thwarted
when people hold differing views of what it
means to follow a contract
Organic trust
This form is described as a sense of
affinity between people who hold
something in common that is bigger than
themselves. What is held in common may
be beliefs, experiences, hopes, or other
activities that provide meaning in their
lives
Social Trust
This form of trust is based on the idea that
trust has a value similar to money. It can
accumulate or deplete. You can use it all in
one place or save it up. You can spread it
over many people or hold it all for yourself.
While it is a way to think and talk about
trust it was not this form of trust that
mattered in improving schools
Relational Trust
This form of trust is discovered through
interactions. Participants in the interaction
either increase trust through the
interaction or decease trust through the
interaction. If people do not interact there
is no opportunity to generate trust.
Relational Trust
Role expectations
People know what to expect of one another
 Understanding of the characteristics of trust
During interactions participants demonstrate
competence, integrity, personal regard and
respect
 Demonstration in routine behaviors
The demonstration of the characteristics above is
routine behavior
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Role Expectations
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Clarify our core values is the first step in
clarity of role expectations.
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Once we are clear about what we believe the
goal of our work is we can clarify what we
expect from each other in achieving our goal
Respect
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Genuine interest in the other person’s
point of view
Integrity
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What you say, do and believe are aligned
Personal Regard
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Acknowledge your feelings and the
feelings of others
Own your part
Consideration of others
Competence
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Faith in your own abilities and in the
abilities of others
Routine Behaviors

Creating norms in behavioral terms
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What does respect “look like”?
What does integrity “look like”?
What does personal regard “look like”?
What does competence “look like”?
Answering these questions creates a culture
which nurtures trust.
What are the elements of
Relational Trust?
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Role Expectations clarified
Respect
Integrity
Personal Regard
Competence
Creating a trustful environment will
move your school from independent
practice to Interdependent
Relationships
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From me to us
From some of the student to all of the students
From my students to our students
From my classroom to our school
From my lesson to our lesson
From my way to our way