As research reveals that relational trust leads to engagement and success, we are reminded that teachers hold our students’ stories and hopes—and here’s how school leaders can lay the foundation for relational trust so that school communities flourish.
In school environments, intellectual growth and community are treasured as exciting pieces of the work that teachers build. Relationships are critical to everyone in an institution. Working with people—in addition to working with the technology or materials or curriculum—means that cooperative interactions occur daily.
Because administrators, policy-makers, students, parents, and community members all play key roles in how society values the work of teachers, positive interactions become critical. For this reason, relational trust is a key factor within the learning environment to have engagement and success (Bryk & Schneider, 2002; Bryk et al., 2009). Relationships are unique and take time to build. The impact of healthy environments can empower each individual into making authentic efforts, putting in the rigor/practice, and achieving goals. Keeping teachers engaged and valued, indeed, becomes the most critical aspect of society in order to develop the next generation of educated citizens.…Read More