How International School Administrators Build Trust

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.