The Effect of Organizational Trust on the Culture of Teacher Leadership in Primary Schools

AbstractThe purpose of this research is to examine the effect of the level of trust of primary school teachers towards their organization in relation to their perceptions of the school having a culture of teacher leadership. Participants of the study consisted of 378 teachers working in Burdur public primary schools. The data collection tool used two scales, the Teacher Leadership Culture Scale (TLCS) and Comprehensive Trust Scale (CTS). The TLCS consists of three dimensions including teacher collaboration, managerial support, and supportive work environment. The CTS has three sub-dimensions including trust in principals, trust in colleagues, and trust in clients. The data obtained from the participants was analyzed using the LISREL 8.5 program via structural equation modeling techniques such as the Maximum Likelihood Approach. The research results find the trust levels of teachers towards their organization in primary schools in Burdur to be positive and significant for the culture of teacher leadership in school. In addition, the trust level of teachers towards the organization are shown to explain 76% of the variability in the level of teacher leadership culture in their school. It was found that trust in principals has the highest correlation with managerial trust. Trust in colleagues also is found to have the highest correlations with teacher collaboration and supportive work environment.Keywords: Organizational trust * Teacher leadership * Teacher collaboration * Managerial support *Supportive work environmentToday, schools struggle with the growing problems of school safety and absenteeism while striving to raise the level of academic achievement. In order to cope with these problems, school administrators and teachers are required to work in collaboration with each other and they need to develop new strategies for several topics including teaching practices such as effective classroom management (Makiewicz & Mitchell, 2014). On the other hand, the current reforms towards social and economic change are observed to be insufficient for the transformation of schools. There is an increasing awareness that such a transformation can only be enabled by teachers with the support of the school administrators (Darling-Hammond, 1996). Therefore, there is an increase in the number of studies on concepts related to the continuity of professional development and changes in the way school administrators, especially teachers, do their jobs (Berger & Forgette-Giroux, 2012). Of these, the concept of teacher leadership is seen as a key element among initiatives with the purpose of reformatting schools and specializing teachers (Sergiovanni & Starratt, 1998; Smylie, 1995; Wasley, 1991). In its simplest form, teacher leadership is a model for providing teachers with leadership opportunities in their profession. Harris and Muijs (2004) proposed that teacher leadership is an opportunity for teachers to develop themselves and affect change in their school without leaving it. In this way the school will be able to more effectively benefit from the extremely valuable and rich source of their teachers' expertise and experience.The definition of teacher leadership in the literature also reveals these expectations. According to Danielson (2006), the concept of teacher leadership generally refers to the set of teacher skills that affects the entire school. Wasley (1991) defines teacher leadership as "the proficiency in encouraging colleagues towards change," (p. 32). Troen and Boles (1994) define teacher leadership as a "collective leadership type where teachers develop professional competencies by working in collaboration," (p. 11). According to Harris and Muijs (2004), teachers who are leaders contribute to the development of their colleagues in school and direct them to perform activities developed together. Katzenmeyer and Moller (2001) depicted teacher leadership with the more comprehensive definition of "teachers who are leaders lead within and beyond the classroom, identifying with and contributing to a community of teacher learners and leaders, and they influence others toward improved educational practice," ( p. …