Dare to trust, or dare not? : A study of trust in relation to the teacher

Sammanfattning

This thesis explores the concept of trust in relation to the teacher in the setting of education in Swedish primary school. Drawing on Gert Biesta’s concept of the necessity of risk in education, it explores what may be at risk when trying to minimize risk in education by exchanging trust with measurement and control. To conceptualize trust, the thesis engages primarily with the work of Niklas Luhmann, Annette Baier, and Onora O’Neill. It takes trust as a fundamental condition in educational relations as a starting point together with trust contrasted to accountability and control. The thesis also includes teacher testimonies in the form of interviews which serve as a hub around which theories and questions revolve. This leads to exploring and discussing what we trust teachers to do, problematizing measurements and evidence-based practice in education and whether accountability can be a threat to responsibility and tact. Ultimately, the thesis argues the importance of question-asking and a vital ever-continuing discussion about what we really want with education in order to find a balance between when and what is worth measuring and controlling and when what we risk losing from doing the same is not worth the cost.