Framing student engagement through perception of justice: The role of trust in authorities in educational contexts

Social psychology research provides evidence that people's engagement in groups is related more to their perception of authorities than to economic assurances. In educational contexts, Berti, Molinari, and Speltini (2010) have shown that a sense of justice impacts engagement as well asstudents' identification, motivation, and dialogue in class. Furthermore, survey and laboratory studies show that students who identify more closely with their university report more engagement when university authorities treat them fairly. Among the antecedents of student engagement, teachers' support is considered essential in elementary, middle, and high school, in promoting student participation and on-task behavior and reducing the probability of dropping out. Moreover, a great deal of empirical evidence has shown the significant role of trust in authorities in building effective, productive and well-managed schools. Trust in authorities predicts positive school climate, productive communication, willingness to go beyond in-role behaviors, and student achievement. Definitions of trust are broad, but recent studies suggest the value of distinguishing among types oftrust, such as competence and benevolence. Competence-based trust captures the knowledge and skills needed to perform a specific job. Benevolence-based trust, by contrast, involves authorities' fairness, caring motives, and intentions. Empirical evidence has shown that all of these and other facets of trust are important aspects of intra-school relations, but their relative effect on engagement depends on the nature of the relationships. Trust may be based on perceptions of schools' economic motives, on institutional support conducive to building trust, on students' sense of identification and on other factors. For instance, unconditional or identification-based trust emerges in an environment where parties have complete confidence and empathy, as well as common desires and intentions. In summary, this chapter reviews research about engagement and trust in authorities in order to suggest potential determinants of a more inclusive and empowering educational system.