Conceptualising five dimensions of relational trust: implications for middle leadership

ABSTRACT

Research to date is rich in its claim that practice development in schools, and the leadership and professional learning that it demands, requires relational trust. However, reasonings for, and understandings about, relational trust are described mainly in general terms, leaving its complexity and multidimensionality implicit. Much trust research in schools has focused on principals, neglecting fulsome characterisations of relational trust as it is engendered in practices by middle leaders often responsible for leading school-based professional learning. This article addresses an empirical void in expositions outlining the intricacies of relational trust. Results advance previous ethnographic research conducted in primary schools delineating five interconnected dimensions of relational trust: interpersonal, interactional, intersubjective, intellectual and pragmatic. Findings from a two-year replication study conducted in secondary schools are presented. Deductive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with educators from three Australian secondary schools adds analytic depth to previous research. Revealed is a doubleness in how relational trust, in five dimensions, was found to not only form conditions for middle leaders to consciously build and cohere, protect and preserve communicative spaces for developing trust; but that this trust reciprocally generated conditions for realising the transformational goals of school-based professional learning.

KEYWORDS:

• Middle leading
• practice architectures
• professional learning
• relational trust
• school leadership

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Notes on contributors

Christine Edwards-Groves

Christine Edwards-Groves is Associate Professor (Literacy) at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Australia. She researches classroom interaction and dialogic pedagogies, professional learning through action research and middle leading practices; and is especially interested in practice theory. She is member of international Pedagogy Education and Praxis (PEP) research network. With Peter Grootenboer, Christine is chief investigator (CI) in an Australian Research Council Discovery Project (ARCDP) studying middle leaders practices in school-based professional learning. She was a 2013 Australian Government Office of Learning and Teaching Citation recipient for her innovation project designed on developing dialogic pedagogies among pre-service teachers.

Peter Grootenboer

Peter Grootenboer was a school teacher and leader for 12 years before moving into the tertiary sector. He received a national Jim Campbell Award for teaching excellence. He is now Professor in Education at Griffith University and a member of the Griffith Institute for Educational Research. And lead CI in a recently awarded ARC DP focused on middle leadership. His research interests include mathematics education, educational leadership, practice/praxis theory, and action research.