The importance of trust

The 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer indicates that during the pandemic, global levels of trust have decreased significantly.  The decrease in trust creates an issue that urgently needs to be addressed by school leaders.  The Edelman survey shows that across the board, trust has declined in virtually every sector and country.  

How does trust function in schools?

     Trust plays an essential role in our relationships with each other.  We make decisions based on the level of trust that we extend to others in the relationship. Student-teacher trust is essential for creating an environment where students feel safe to learn through trying and correcting their errors (Lemov, 2021).  When thinking about trust it is important to consider the family as a whole. Trust between students and their families and their teachers has a large effect size on student achievement (Hoy, Hoy, & Kurz, 2008).

When students and their parents trust their teachers the student will work harder for that teacher.Also when a problem arises the parents will reach out to that teacher to help solve the problem and a more positive outcome will be reached for the student.  All year I have been communicating with a mother about her child, we spent several hours in Zoom meetings. Honestly, it really seemed like the mother was experiencing a lot of stress and needed to feel heard. As the end of the term approached her student had started to stop turning in work and even showing up for class. I put a call into her mom, it was refreshing to hear her mom's response which ultimately ended in the student passing my class.  When a trusting relationship exists between teachers and the student's family, everyone is working together to support student achievement.  

So how do teachers build trust with students and their families? 

Piats and Ehmer (2020), discuss the importance of building the social capital of students' families through interacting with the schools' staff.  They provide some ideas:

• Provide several different ways for families to increase their social ties to teachers and the school in general.  
• Utilize social media to engage parents and students.  Obviously, this needs to be done wisely.
• Work on providing ways for parents and students to participate in teacher networks.  (Piats & Ehmer, 2020).

Perhaps the thing that educators need to be most aware of is the importance of working to overcome the barriers to trust associated with social distancing.  At one time building social capital with families may have been a natural part of teaching.  With the restrictions associated with Covid 19, educators need to be more purposefully, interactive with the families they serve. 

References

Hoy, A. W., Hoy, W. K., & Kurz, N. M. (2008). Teacher's academic optimism: The development and test of a new construct. Teaching and teacher education, 24(4), 821-835.

Lemov, D. (2021). Teach Like a Champion 3.0: 63 Techniques that Put Students on the Path to College. John Wiley & Sons

Pitas, N., & Ehmer, C. (2020). Social Capital in the Response to COVID-19. American Journal of Health Promotion, 34(8), 942–944. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890117120924531