Enabling School Structure and Student-Teacher Relations: Cultivating a Culture of Student Trust

• In Event: Roundtable Session 24
  In Roundtable Session: Social Relationships as Enabling Structures in Schools

Abstract

This study examines the effect of enabling school structures on collective student trust in teachers. A multi-level model was used to examine the link between individual student trust in teachers and the school’s overall degree of enabling school structures. The hypothesized relationship was confirmed as enabling school structures was found to be a positive, significant predictor of collective student trust in teachers. The findings suggest that enabling school structures is a pathway through which students’ and teachers’ psychological needs are met. Subsequently, there is a greater incentive for school leaders to facilitate high levels of enabling school structures in order to cultivate intrinsic motivation among teachers and strong relationships between students and teachers.

Authors

• Ellen Dollarhide, University of Oklahoma

• Lauren P. Bailes, The Ohio State University