Abstract

RAZETO, Alicia. More trust for a better school: the value of interpersonal relationships between teachers and school principals. Cuad. Investig. Educ. [online]. 2017, vol.8, n.1, pp.61-76. ISSN 1510-2432.  https://doi.org/10.18861/cied.2017.8.1.2639.

As from the late nineties, researchers in the educational area have recognized the interpersonal trust at schools as a central resource for the educational improvement. Based on this premise, this article has two aims. The first one is to identify the benefits that the interpersonal trust between teachers and the principal or headmaster can offer to the school organizations. The second one is to describe how we approach the interpersonal trust in two elementary Chilean schools. The first aim is analyzed across the review of results of a set of studies published in national and international context. The second aim is handled through the accomplishments of a case study in two Chilean schools using as information gathering strategies: a questionnaire to teachers, not participating observations at work meetings and semi-structured interviews to teachers and the principals. The results show that the presence of trust in the interpersonal relations is beneficial for the school organizations, and that one of the forces that creates trust are the discernment criteria used by the people to determine how reliable the other one is. The results of the case study establish differences among the schools, in one of them there are high levels of distrust and in the other one a greater presence of trust was found in the interpersonal relations between teachers and the principal.

Keywords : Trust; interpersonal relationship; school improvement.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )