Trust

The Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession

Focus: Trust (p. 9)

OCT expectations:

"The ethical standard of trust embodies fairness, openness, and honesty.  Members' professional relationships with students, colleagues, parents, guardians and the public are based on trust" (Ontario College of Teachers Foundations of Professional Practice, 2012, p. 9).

Curated Material:

Bryk, Anthony S., & Schneider, Barbara. Creating Caring Schools. "Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for School Reform." Vol. 60. 2003. 40-45.

Analysis/Reflection

Definition of Trust (drawn from the curated artifact)

       In their article "Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for School Reform," Bryk and Schneider address what they refer to as "relational trust."  According to the authors, relational trust is characterized by:
"the social exchanges of schooling: teachers with students, teachers with other teachers, teachers with parents, and all groups with the school principal. Each party in a relationship maintains an understanding of his or her role's obligations and holds some expectations about the obligations of the other parties. For a school community to work well, it must achieve agreement in each role relationship in terms of the understandings held about these personal obligations and expectations of others.
       An interrelated set of mutual dependencies are embedded within the social exchanges in any school community. Regardless of how much formal power any given role has in a school community, all participants remain dependent on others to achieve desired outcomes and feel empowered by their efforts" (Bryk & Schneider, 2003, p. 40-45).
       
Why the Resource Informs My Understanding of the OCT Standard Trust

        This article seeks to define trust in terms of communal relations.  It is only through the mutual cooperation of all parties involved in education (Teacher, student, parent, principle, etc.) that trust can be developed in a meaningful way.  Hence, strengthening these bounds should be the goal for increasing trust in the educational community.  This article provides helpful advice on how to develop these relationships and identifies the level of responsibility attributed to each participatory member.  The article argues that developing trust in the educational community influences the development of respect, competence, and integrity.

Level of Reflection

       I believe that this article is best associated with the critical level of reflection.  I feel this is the case as critical reflection identifies that "classroom and school practices cannot be separated from the larger social and political realities, critically reflective teachers strive to become fully conscious of the range of consequences of their actions."  Furthermore, critically reflective teachers "[examine] how instructional and other classroom practices contribute to social equality and...[extend] awareness beyond immediate instructional circumstances to include...socially responsible actions" (Cooper & Lerrivee, 2005, p. 15).

References:

Bryk, Anthony S., & Schneider, Barbara. Creating Caring Schools. "Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for School Reform." Vol. 60. 2003.
Cooper, James M., Larrivee, Barbara. An Educator's Guide to Teacher Reflection. Houghton Mifflin, 2005.
Ontario College of Teachers Foundations of Professional Practice, 2012.