The problems of contemporary education: How teacher educators develop trust in educational systems

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify teacher educators' trust levels in four cross-national educational systems, namely the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), the Arab world (AW), and the Gulf Countries (GC). In addition to identifying the trust levels, the factors involved in trust building in these systems were also investigated. A two-phase explanatory sequential mixed methods design was developed in which a survey and focus group interviews were utilized to collect the quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data analysis showed that the highest level of trust for most study participants was directed toward the American educational system. The analysis and interpretation of qualitative phase participants inputs yielded 26 factors that affected trust in educational systems. The overall conclusion of this study indicates that teacher educators develop trust in educational systems by being influenced by a number of integrated cognitive and emotional factors.