{"title":"How International School Administrators Build Trust","authors":"Robert Preston Williams, J. Richardson","doi":"10.1177/14752409231215042","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This single-site case study focuses on how administrators in a Vietnamese international school build trust among expatriate teachers to foster informal teacher leadership. A theoretical framework based on Bourdieu’s (1986) social capital theory was used to design the research instruments and analyze the data. Participants took part in semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that when administrators trust teachers as professionals and listen to their perspective, teachers reciprocate trust back to administrators. Findings also suggest that administrators’ handling of crises generates trust, but constant communication and transparency of information are key. The study highlights the importance of crisis management skills for administrators in international schools as these types of schools tend to be relatively isolated from the host country. The study also highlights the importance of trust for informal teacher leadership as trust was a prerequisite for collaboration. The findings also suggest that administrators play a critical role in building trust. However, administrators’ role is indirect rather than direct. In addition to building trusting cultures, findings suggest that administrators have other means for fostering informal teacher leadership, which should be explored in future research.","PeriodicalId":45854,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Research in International Education","volume":"17 1","pages":"240 - 255"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4000,"publicationDate":"2023-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Research in International Education","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14752409231215042","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This single-site case study focuses on how administrators in a Vietnamese international school build trust among expatriate teachers to foster informal teacher leadership. A theoretical framework based on Bourdieu’s (1986) social capital theory was used to design the research instruments and analyze the data. Participants took part in semi-structured interviews. Findings suggest that when administrators trust teachers as professionals and listen to their perspective, teachers reciprocate trust back to administrators. Findings also suggest that administrators’ handling of crises generates trust, but constant communication and transparency of information are key. The study highlights the importance of crisis management skills for administrators in international schools as these types of schools tend to be relatively isolated from the host country. The study also highlights the importance of trust for informal teacher leadership as trust was a prerequisite for collaboration. The findings also suggest that administrators play a critical role in building trust. However, administrators’ role is indirect rather than direct. In addition to building trusting cultures, findings suggest that administrators have other means for fostering informal teacher leadership, which should be explored in future research.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Research in International Education is an international, peer-reviewed journal in international education for schools, examiners and higher education institutions throughout the world. The Journal of Research in International Education seeks to advance the understanding and significance of international education. It sets out to undertake a rigorous consideration of the educational implications of the fundamental relationship between human unity and human diversity that ''education for international understanding'' requires. The JRIE encourages an approach to research in international education that will close the gap between the well established emergent theory and diverse practice throughout the world. In this context, international education is concerned with the promotion of education for international understanding and human rights, and may include peace education, global education and intercultural education. Authors may address, for example, the curriculum, institutional concerns, the history of education, policy and pedagogy at all levels.