Poster #38 - Relational Trust in Group Coaching with First-Grade Teachers: A Single Case Study

• In Event: Poster Session 13

Abstract

Coaching has become a prominent professional development tool for helping early childhood teachers implement curriculum and research-based practices in their classrooms. One of the coaching strategies found to create positive changes in teacher practice and child outcomes is building trust between the coach and teacher(s) (Crawford et al., 2017; Feldman et al., 2014; Jayaraman et al., 2015). Despite what is known in terms of the benefits of these positive relationships, there is limited understanding of the nature of trust-building between coach and teachers, in general, and particularly in group coaching configurations. There is also scant literature exploring the nature of trust between teachers participating in group coaching sessions. Researchers call these two kinds of trust out-group trust (between an outside coach and the teachers) and in-group trust (between the teachers who already have a relationship) (Van Maele et al., 2014).

This presentation will share the findings of a case study that explored the nature of relational out-group trust and in-group trust between a coach and two first-grade teachers in a group coaching context over a 10-week intervention about social-emotional learning. This study was guided by the Situated Learning Theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and its concept, communities of practice (COP). COPs are a group of people who share a common interest, a common goal of improving, and common experiences. Teachers in schools comprise COPs, and a coach enters the COP to support teaching practices.

The first finding was that high in-group trust between the teachers created a foundation for developing out-group trust between the teachers and coach. The teachers were comfortable with each other and were vulnerable with each other often, so perhaps it was not as risky to be vulnerable with the coach once trust was established.

The coach used moves to build out-group trust with the teachers. This second finding highlights the value of these moves, including 1) showing individual care for students, 2) fulfilling a need in the teachers’ classrooms by helping improve the social-emotional skills of the students, 3) having formal and informal conversations with the teachers, both about the intervention and about their lives outside of school, and 4) the coach positioning herself as a parallel professional, not seeing herself as a master teacher, but instead as a colleague having specific information about the social-emotional intervention.

It appears that due to the high in-group trust between the teachers, and the moves used by the coach, the third finding was that the coach was eventually able to transform out-group trust into in-group trust. In the final weeks of the intervention, the teachers reported that the coach “stepped in (more) as a staff member at that point, instead of just an outsider.” Examples of this transformation include the teachers discussing sensitive information with the coach about their students and leaving the coach in charge of their classrooms when they needed to step out for minor student emergencies. This presentation will underscore the importance of relational trust and the potential for group coaching in early childhood settings.

Authors

• Jentry Stoneman Barrett, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Presenting Author

• Jungwon Eum, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Gwen C. Nugent

• Kathleen Moritz Rudasill, Virginia Commonwealth University