Can attempts to make schools more reliable render them less trustworthy?

Abstract

This paper has two aims. One is to draw a distinction between two types of trust. The other is to argue for its applicability in academic discourse on educational policies. One of the two types of trust is ethical trust that rests on beliefs about others’ ethical virtues. The other is institutional trust that typically depends on law enforcement and economic incentives. Ideas about a social order based primarily on institutional trust have haunted political thought since the time of Thomas Hobbes. Such ideas may seem realistic if we focus on business relations, where conformity to contractual terms suffices to meet the needs of all concerned. Intimate relationships rely more on ethical trust. In the first half of the paper the difference between these two types of trust is explained. In the final sections it is argued that successful schoolwork depends on ethical trust and that measures to make schools more reliable in the institutional sense, through supervision and accountability, need to be applied with caution. Such measures can undermine ethical trust because they, at least implicitly, question the moral integrity of teachers and school-heads.

Keywords:

• Trust
• ethical trust
• virtue ethics
• education
• teachers’ professionalism

Acknowledgements

This paper derives from the conference presentations:

Hardarson, A. (2020, March 4–6). Can Attempts to Make Schools More Reliable Render Them Less Trustworthy? [Paper presentation]. NERA 2020, Turku, Finland.

Hardarson, A. (2022, May 23–26). Can Attempts to Make Schools More Reliable Render them Less Trustworthy? [Paper presentation]. 17th Annual International Conference on Philosophy, Athens, Greece

Hardarson, A. (2022, October 28–30). Can Attempts to Make Schools More Reliable Render Them Less Trustworthy? [Paper presentation]. North American Association for Philosophy & Education Annual Conference, Mundelein, IL, USA.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by University of Iceland Research Fund.

Notes on contributors

Atli Harðarson

Atli Harðarson ([email protected]) is a professor at the University of Iceland, School of Education. His publications include works on philosophy, literature, and curriculum theory.