Time Persistent Trust: What is it and why is it important to school change leadership?

Abstract Building social cohesion through strong collaborative and trusting relationships is a critical aspect of school leadership which ensures teaching staff are committed to the shared goals of change . This paper reports findings on one leadership dimension (trust) arising from a six-year, longitudinal qualitative Ph.D study exploring leadership change practices across three consecutive school principal eras at a primary school in regional New South Wales, Australia. The leadership dimension of trust was found to be crucial to sustaining a culture that supported social cohesion and collaborative relationships necessary for successful change. A culture of trust was apparent between each principal and their teachers across the six-year study, despite changes in leadership and staff. Our finding, ‘Time Persistent Trust’ emerged as a critical element in educational leadership that enabled ‘the principal’ to lead significant change with continued momentum, despite three different leaders holding that role. This brings to the fore the significance of Time Persistent Trust and highlights the role of this form of trust in promoting sustainable long-term change.