Thread: @KarenSeashore, Murphy, J. (2017) Trust, Caring & Organisational Learning: the leader’s role. Journal of Educational Administration 55(1)pp103-126. Paper investigates impact principals (P) have on organisational learning (OL).
Qs: Is P’s trust in teachers’ professional capacities related to: knowledge sharing/OL? and/or teachers’ reports of being in a caring school? Is Principal caring related to knowledge sharing/OL among teachers? Is Principal trust important in schools with high deprivation?
Principals build capacity for change/reform by promoting trustful cultures/relationships which lead to collaborative learning (Cosner 2009, 2011)
Leadership & Organisational Trust: Trust is key to school capacity for innovation. Respect for professionalism/caring for others’ needs are characteristics of school cultures that influence how teachers work with leaders & other teachers.
Trust in professional competence is complex, involves evaluation of professional knowledge/technical skills, practical experience/professional practice/application of PCK.
Study distinguishes professional trust in competence & a type of affective trust - caring/regard for another’s wellbeing. If trust is low, prof learning culture constrained/ teachers disengaged. In high trust contexts leaders more likely to perceive teacher discretionary effort.
Teacher empowerment > increased capacity for OL. Principal’s trust in teacher competence is a precondition for safe school environment for innovation - essential for practice change.
Leadership/Caring: trust/caring related but not same. Measurable characteristics of caring relationships include: attentiveness; motivational displacement (putting others’ needs before own); situationality; mutuality; authenticity. people who feel cared for/more likely to trust.
Insensitive leaders inhibit trust.
Organisational Support/Caring: leaders may pay limited attention to allocation of HR and time.
Leadership & OL: OL characterised by embedded searching for new knowledge, processing/evaluating it with others, incorporating/using new ideas, growing new knowledge internally/importing from outside.
Vertical integration = cohesion between leaders and teachers at all levels -associated with OL in uncertain environments.
Summary/Discussion: teachers’ affective trust (that they are cared for by leaders) is important predictor of reports of OL. Translation of caring into actions that support students (esp. those needing extra help) is key.
Strong association btw leaders’ cognitive trust & teachers’ affective trust and actions taken to promote equity - ie allocation of resources to students in greatest need. However study found that schools with higher % of non-white students were less likely to allocate resources…
…to students in greatest need and had lower levels of OL.
Accuracy of principal assessment of teacher competence may be less relevant than teachers sense of being cared for/attended to/valued. Leadership behaviours can’t be reduced to a checklist -to be authentic they must be situated in school context and bespoke to individual teachers
Trust is a foundation of positive organisational behaviour and a growth culture in which leaders feel a sense of vocation & commitment to serving/maintains expertise required to maintain effective performance. Emotional intelligent leadership is essential for school improvement.
Another great paper! Thanks @KarenSeashore & Joseph Murphy.
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