A Case Study of Trust and the Relationships between White Teachers and Their Black Students

The purpose of this study was to examine whether White teachers’ trust in theirBlack students would stimulate positive teacher-student relationships. One question guided my research: How do White teachers build trust with their Black students? This study used interviews of 5 White middle school teachers and 3 Black middle school students for the data set. Semi-structured interviews and a focus group were conducted to fully understand the lived experience of teachers and students within a middle school setting. All of the teacher participants worked in middle schools where they taught core content classes. Each teacher and student interviewed had at least 1 year experience teaching or attending middle school. Each interview and focus group was recorded via ZOOM and transcribed as soon as possible for accuracy and review. Important statements were extracted from the interview and focus group transcripts resulting in three major themes. Theme one, students and teachers’ definition of trust, presented how students and teachers viewed trust in developing positive relationships within the classroom. Theme two, teacher-student relationships, presented how trust impacts the interactions of students and teachers to effectively build strong relationships. Theme three, racial tension, presented how race and White norms impacted teaching practices and the development of teacher-student relationships. The researcher concluded that the participants had a perceived trust as an enabling factor for building positive relationships. However, students explained that building relationships could be improved by the teachers’ ability to adapt to their students.