Links Between Principal Intercultural Competency and Teacher Trust in EARCOS International Schools

Abstract This study hypothesized that higher principal intercultural competency leads to greater trust from teachers toward their principal in international schools. Two distinct and tested inventories, the Global Perspective Inventory (GPI) and the Omnibus Trust Scale's Comprehensive Teacher Trust Survey (CTTS), were used to test this hypothesis. The research informs intercultural competency theory, advances trust theory, and contributes to a more thorough understanding of intercultural competency and trust in international schools in the East Asia Regional Council Of Schools (EARCOS).The study found no relationship between the intercultural competency of international school principals within the EARCOS region and teacher trust among their faculty members. Multiple regression analysis on predictor variables indicated that their were hypothetical relationships between a principal intercultural competency based on his or her ethnic minority status in the school within which they serve and a principal's multilingualism. Predictor variables related to schools hypothetically influenced teacher trust in their principals. These predictors include the division the teacher serves in, the size of the school, the profit status of the school, and the school's religious affiliation.School leaders may consider aspects of their own organizational structures, skill sets, and cultural awareness of the candidates they seek to hire at their schools, and variables that may contribute to trust development or to mitigate issues that reduce trust among staff members. This study suggests that a new hypothesis is needed regarding variables present in international school culture may suppress, as well as enhance, individual culture, language, and multiculturalism may be worthy of investigation.