Building trust in the classroom: perspectives from students and teachers

Abstract The importance of fostering trust between students and teachers is a growing focus in education. However, practitioners and researchers hold different understandings of this research topic that often neglect the viewpoints of both students and teachers. Addressing this, we explored the nuanced nature of trust from the perspectives of students and teachers, including antecedents and consequences they associated with trust. We conducted semi-structured interviews with twelve participants: two teachers and five students each from two ninth-grade classes in a German intermediate school (“Mittelschule”). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis highlighted the relevance of trust for challenged populations in the aftermath of COVID- 19 in particular and suggests that, from student and teacher perspectives, trust may encompass more elements than recognized in previous scientific literature. Based on student and teacher perspectives, we propose an extended definition of trust as a willingness to be vulnerable to, or to confide in, others based on their openness, honesty, reliability, benevolence, and competence. Students and teachers identified similar trust-related behaviours inside and outside the classroom, linking trust with engagement, overall well-being, and attitudes towards making mistakes. These findings underscore the importance of actively cultivating trust in educational settings to foster supportive learning environments and meaningful student–teacher relationships.