Adjustment and validation of school trust scales in Public Secondary Education in Chile

Abstract

Purpose: Based on the work of Hoy and Tschannen Moran (2003), an adjusted questionnaire designed to measure relational trust in public schools in Chile is proposed. The questionnaire is composed of 9 scales that measure the confidence of principals, teachers and students in other members of the school community. Method: This questionnaire was applied to principals, teachers and students of 3rd and 4th grade (youth from 16 to 18 years old) of 54 public schools in the metropolitan region of Chile. Based on these data, the relational trust scales were validated and adjusted using exploratory factor analysis. Findings: The main adjustment proposed is to disaggregate the dimension of trust in ‘clients’ proposed by Hoy and Tschannen-Moran (2003), which grouped trust in parents and students in a single scale. With the local data it was not possible to fit the joint model, while the data shows a good fit and good internal consistency when trust in both actors is measured separately. Conclusions: Using the validated relational trust indicators, a high level of relational trust can be noted in public schools. The high confidence levels of principals in other members of the school community and of the students in their teachers stands out. Some limitations and prospectives of research using these validated confidence scales are proposed.